Life DEFINATELY not Normal
by Tashasaurous
Summary: AU: Season 2-The crazy adventures of the students of Radiant Academy continues, as more strange things happen to our heroes and many others at school and outside of town. Continuing from "Life FAR from Normal", within the epilogue ending of "The Betrayal of Light" AU: COMPLETED!
1. Episode 1: Incredible Shrinking Mickey

**Life DEFINATELY not Normal.**

 **Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set after the Epilogue of my previous story, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", and immediately after the first season of the previous story, _Life FAR from Normal_ , also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR! To start off the year, I've decided to grant you all the first episode of season 2 of the alternate AU story of KH.**

 **We bid farewell to 2015 and welcome 2016 and hope this year will be better than last year. Let's begin with season 2.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 1: Incredible Shrinking Mickey.

It was a nice day in Radiant City and at the Radiant Academy. But it was not an ordinary day. Today it was the first day of the new year; AKA-New Year's Day. Okay, so it was New Year's Eve, but hey, everyone was waiting for this moment. Each year, the Academy would invite the students' parents and families to join them for the party and fireworks. This year, there was going to be a baffet, a party and fireworks. Everyone was looking forward to it...except old people who would rather go to bed and sleep, except that the fireworks would keep them awake until after midnight.

This year was different, though. President ShinRa from Midgar, his son Rufus, and the board of the company was joining them, much to the displeasure of the students, but they held in their annoyances. At least, Reno and Lea tried to. What's worse, a snobby gentlemen named Yazoo, his two brothers, Loz who, while impressive in strength, was such a crybaby, and the youngest, Kadaj, who acted more like a leader and was childish, were with them from the Galbadian Academy. They were Sephiroth's relatives.

In the gardens outside, Mickey was on the ladder, hanging up the last of the "Happy New Year" signs on the wall, while careful not to fall off.

"If you were taller, that would've been easier for you." Kadaj pointed out as he approached, watching his rival student struggle a bit.

While holding back a remark, Mickey concentrated while saying, "I've been through worse, and unless I suddenly shrink down to size, I'm perfectly all right, thanks."

"Fair enough." Kadaj muttered, before looking behind him, and rolled his eyes. "I think my brother is flirting with Terra's girlfriend again."

"Huh?" Mickey asked, then looked back himself while careful not to fall. He then groaned as Yazoo was spotted trying to flirt with an rather annoyed Aqua who kept her distance away from him.

"Why not join me to Galbadian Academy, my beautiful ocean star? It's better than Radiant Academy." Yazoo inquired, attempting to kiss Aqua's hand, but she flinched away from him.

"Look!" Aqua snapped, more than a little annoyed, crossing her arms, "I told you five times already. I'm with Terra and Radiant Academy is my second home. Besides, I'm not interested in going to Galbadian Academy."

Yazoo rolled his eyes, "Terra? Oh please. He is not for someone as beautiful as you."

"Hey, cool it!"

Turning to the voice behind him, Yazoo saw that Lea and Isa approached. It was Lea who spoke as he continued, "Why don't you go and get yourself a girlfriend that isn't someone else's girlfriend?" as Reno, Rude, Cloud, Tifa, Zack and Aerith joined them.

"Hmph." Yazoo snorted. "I am working on it." just as a mouse in a detective's clothing(huh?) suddenly fell out from the hole in the wall and landed on top of his head. Feeling something move, the silver-haired teen looked up, before the mouse fell onto his shoulder and he panicked, just as Loz also arrived and seeing his brother in trouble, rushed over. Everyone gasped at this. Mickey quickly climbed down to head to his friends, as Kadaj also went to his brothers.

"Unhand me, you foul thing!" Yazoo cried out!

"I'll handle it, Yazoo!" Loz attempted to grab and crush the mouse, when a hand clamped onto his wrist.

"Hold it, Loz!" Terra told him, as he, Ven, Donald, Goofy, Minnie and Daisy also arrived, just as Mickey joined them.

Ven then placed the mouse into a blue and red vase, saying to it, "In you go, little guy. Sometimes it's safer outside the Academy." letting it scamper out and climb up the wall and back through the hole.

Yazoo cringed and repeatedly wiped himself off, groaning, "Ugh! I hate mice! Now I have to bathe." walking away with Loz and Kadaj following, adding, "There's nothing I hate more than mice and rats." which made Mickey and Minnie furious. In fact, their friends were super annoyed and furious as well, just as the vase turned back into Genie, out of the silver-haired trio's sights.

Reno sticked his tongue out, giving the trio a raspberry behind their backs, then said, "Yeah, well, why don't you go and live in the sewer, you arrogant ass."

"Reno!" Genie scolded, "Show a little respect!" saying as he was starting to get angrier, "Yazoo and his two brothers, and not to mention Scarlet and Heidegger can't help it that they're snooty and cowardly and OBNOXIOUS AND CRUEL AND..." before shrugging it off and encouraged the redhead, "Ahh go ahead and razz them."

The redhead tried not to laugh, but failed and said, "That's what I like about you, Gen'."

"Who do those guys think they are?" Cloud muttered, fairly annoyed. "They think their Academy is better than ours."

"Must be some serious competition in there somewhere." Zack thought, shrugging.

"There's serious competition, and then there's annoying people that drives all of us completely crazy." Terra muttered.

"I second that." Isa agreed.

Lea shrugged, "Oh, they're be gone after tomorrow. It's too bad that we're stuck with them for New Year's Day. The ones I really hate at the moment, are those three losers, that creepy Scarlet lady, and that loudmouthed Heidegger."

"Yeah, and even makes the President's kid Rufus a decent kind of guy." Reno agreed, only to have Rude smack him upward on the back of the head. "Ow! What?"

"Uh, fellas, I know it's not easy, but we can't say anything bad about them while they're here." Mickey cautioned. "Or we'll be in big trouble."

"Mickey, what would you do if you were that little mouse earlier?" Ven asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mickey asked.

The blonde-haired teen shrugged. "Ah, nevermind. It's not like things will change."

As most of the others began to leave, Mickey was left alone with Genie, rather annoyed. "You think my height is trouble too, huh? Oh yeah! We'll, I'm just as tall in the inside." before asking the magical being, "Aren't I, Genie?"

Genie responds as turning himself into a street back thug, muttering, "Sure, you know about being tall in this dark, sleazy underbelly of this seamy city of sin." thinking that Mickey was joking. He laughed until he noticed Mickey's very angry look and turned back, flinching, "You're serious."

The humanriod mouse didn't answer, only glared harder, which actually frightened Genie, causing him to flinch and cry out, "Whoa! If looks could kill! And I thought Jas's anger was scary."

Finally having enough, Mickey just stormed away. Genie, now alone, just saluted, his eyes turning into dead 'X's, and fell down, playing dead.

* * *

A bit later in Radiant City, everyone was being festive as they all prepared to celebrate New Year's Day. But not everyone's having a festive time. On the ground below everything tall and normal size, some mice were stealing some fruit and even some other things and hid back into the drains of the sewers. A large rat was leading them, while a bat with a peg-leg rushed away.

But the town wasn't noticing the unusual events. Neither was Mickey who, wanting to find something special, went out for some little shopping. Mushu and Iago were with him.

"Okay, we've been here half an hour already. Can we go back to the Academy?" Mushu asked.

Mickey shook his head, "No. Do you know what everybody was talking about today? My height!" still annoyed.

"Offend not my delicate ears with such language!" Iago mocked sarcastically, as he rested on a perch stand.

"Look, I gotta do this. I wanna make this year's New Year's Day special, and prove that you don't always have to be tall to do everything." Mickey explained to two of his friends. "I'm spending the rest of the way to find something very special, even if it kills me."

Mushu and Iago glanced at each other, skeptically, before they turned back to him and the small dragon pointed out, "Uh, Mickey? Birdbrain here and I are smaller than you. Do you hear us complaining about our heights?"

Iago was now offended on being called "birdbrain" and said sarcasically to his companion, "Would you care to rephrase that?"

"But you fellas can do more." Mickey stated. "Besides, this year, we need something more than just Fireworks and a party. No doubt nobody's gonna be happy with the Academy's, well, you know..." he trailed off, knowing that there were other people around them and he couldn't say what he wanted to say outloud.

There was an awkward pause, until he said to his friends, "A-anyway. Come on, let's go this way."

Mickey led Mushu and Iago to a rather mythical looking store, where there were lots of things stars and cresent shaped moon patterns on blankets and curtains, and other shiny things. Mickey climbs up the stand.

"Uh, wouldn't be easier to get from a lower stand, Mickey?" Mushu asked, skeptically.

"Don't worry, fellas." Mickey said, making it to the top. He then spotted a box full of sparkly stuff and hanging lights that were shaped like fireworks and he smiled. He could easily hang these up around the garden to give it a more prettier effect along with the fireworks. There was a small hand mirror in there as well. He could give it to Minnie. "Perfect." he said, taking the box, and payed the money which the owner wasn't there.

As Mickey climbed back down, Iago protested, "But - You can't just - Hey, you know there's an art to this!"

"I'm not stealing it." Mickey pointed out, skeptically. "I just payed for it. There's more to life than stealing, ya' know."

"He said it." Mushu said to Iago.

The parrot shook his head, "The kid has no idea."

But just as they were about to leave, Mickey suddenly felt someone grab hold of his arm and he cried out in fright. He looked behind to see a tall man in a blue robe and a pointy hat, having a gray beard and hair. The grip was very tight, Mickey mentally panicked.

"A word of warning to the young and overly curious." said the man. "Those who do not know of the dangers of certain things, will find themselves casted upon by mysterious forces."

Mickey by now was shaking, and he fleed as the man lets him go, carrying the box full of the items. As Mickey, Mushu and Iago fleed, they heard something behind them and turned, only to face a wall. The man was gone!

"I think we just saw a spirit." Mushu muttered, scaredly.

The others didn't say anything, but kept running until all three of them were in a safer part of town. Standing near a building, the group looked into the box, and Mickey smiled. "Oh boy! These will be perfect for New Year's Day!" he said, before pulling out a mirror, smiling. It was carved in blue and yellow which made it actually pretty.

"You sure have climbing skills, Mick'." Mushu thought, impressed.

"I'll say. You'd even bet Al' in that kind of skill." Iago admitted.

Mickey smiled, proud of himself. "See? I may be a small mouse, but I can do anything." looking himself at the mirror.

"I suppose that makes me a rather proud dung beetle, huh?" Mushu joked, also looking into the mirror.

Iago smirked, "Don't make me laugh, guys!" adding with a joke of his own, "If Mickey's a small mouse and you're a dung beetle, I'm a frilled lizard."

But just as the words escaped Iago's beak, all of the sudden, the mirror in Mickey's hand glowed in a strange light of blue. Mickey gasped, Mushu's eyes widened, and Iago held a scared and worried expression.

"Uh oh." Iago muttered.

"Oh man." Mushu muttered.

Then suddenly the blue glow covered the trio who grunted in pain. Iago and Mushu fell onto the ground, while Mickey held himself, eyes shut tightly, until he disappeared into the light which also disappeared. Suddenly reappearing, Mickey opened his eyes, shaking his head and feeling rather nausous and tingly.

"What in the haystack happened?" Mickey asked himself. He looked around, and noticed something was different...well, in size at least. He looked up, nervously. "Um, why does everything look bigger than usual?"

He looked at himself, finding that he's still the same, body the same, red shorts, yellow shoes, white gloves and everything. Mickey then noticed the box, and gasped, "Even the box is bigger!" before he came to a sudden and horrified realization.

"T-that means..." Mickey then lets out a terrified cry, "I've somehow shrank!"

"Uh, Mickey?" Mushu's voice called out. Mickey looked to find the voice, only to find a bright red Beetle about his current size walk up to him, having...Mushu's face? "Why do I feel out of sorts?"

"Uh, fellas?" Iago's voice came next, and came a green frilled lizard with his head approach. "Do I look different to you?"

The three of them, seeing each other, all exclaimed in shock at each other's current apprences; Mickey having shrunk, Mushu having turned into a Beetle, and Iago having turned into a lizard. Mickey then realised the man's earlier waring and he said, "Oh my gosh! That man! He said, 'mysterious forces casts onto those who don't know the dangers and overly curious'!" mentally smacking himself at his own stupidty.

"So why did we get zapped!?" Iago complained in an exclaim, pointing at himself and Mushu who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you're the one who was holding the-" Mushu cuts himself off, as he, Iago and Mickey all realised what he was about to say, and they quickly remembered the strange light from the mirror.

The mirror! It was a magic mirror that turns those appearences change at their desire...or in this case, by just saying their imaginations in the wrong way.

Mickey suddenly realised in horror, "Oh no! I said I was a small mouse!"

"I said I was a dung beetle!" Mushu added in horror.

"And I said I was a frilled lizard!" Iago concluded in shock.

"We have to tell it to change us back!" Mickey concluded.

It took them only seconds to find it...or at least, the shards of it. Mickey and his friends rushed over to it to say their wishes to return to normal.

"I'm a human sized mouse! A human sized mouse!" Mickey told the mirror.

"I'm a dragon!" Mushu said, adding, "A travel-sized Dragon."

"I'm a parrot!" Iago said, adding while acting stylishly, "A devilishly good-looking parrot." making the other two look at him skeptically.

But the mirror only sparked and fizzed before stopping. The three of the stood there, shocked and dismayed. Not only the mirror was broken, they were stuck in their current appearences...or in Mickey's case...his current size.

"That's just great, now what!?" Mushu exclaimed in horror and dismay.

"We just got seven years bad luck!" Iago exclaimed.

Mickey looked helpless, as he muttered, "A bad way to start a new year."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Academy, the bat, named Fidget, just arrived in the gardens, when he noticed a shadow looming over him. The bat looked up and freaked out, as Pluto, not liking the bat, barked threateningly. Fidget screamed and then made a run for it, with the dog close behind.

Genie then appeared, as an animal expert, "A dog, some of them can run and outrun a cat and many other things, can catch anything smaller than itself. To bats and mice and rats, dogs are so powerful, they can crush an ocean liner." unaware that he was standing on Pluto's tail and causing Pluto to run in the same spot but not moving. The dog then stopped after realising what happened and growled at Genie who continued, not noticing.

"It may seem that the fore rodent has nary a chance. Oh, how can this weak and puny fellow survive? Will he not be spared? IS THERE NO HOPE?! SHALL..." Genie exclaimed, until he looked and sheepishly stepped off Pluto's tail. "Oh. How do you supposed that got there?"

Pluto then noticed Figdet escape and whimpered in disappointment. Ven and the others walked up to him as the blonde-haired teen chuckled, "I guess that rat's a little too fast for you, huh, Pluto?" mistaking the bat for a rat, as he, Lea and Isa patted Pluto who enjoyed it.

"Ah, don't worry, buddy. There's always next time." Lea added. His comment did make Pluto feel better.

Too bad the annoying guests-uh, ahem, excuse me, I mean, President ShinRa, his son Rufus, Scarlet, Heidegger, Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj approached, with Headmaster Ansem, Xehanort and Eraqus approach. The rest of Ven's friends arrived as well, but were not happy. Thankfully, Tseng and Director Veld were there as well. Veld was an aging but serious man. Reno, Rude, Lea and Isa learned fairly quickly to respect him.

"You need a cat, Ansem." Scarlet muttered, "That puppy doesn't know a rat when it can smell one." causing Pluto to growl at the annoying woman in the red dress.

Donald was close in losing his temper, as his head was turning bright red in anger.

"Ventus, we were wondering if you, Terra, Reno, Lea and Goofy would give the three students and young ShinRa a tour of Radiant City." said Eraqus. "I'd take them myself, but unfortunately, I am busy with a meeting today."

While Ven replied, "Sure, no problem." Reno and Lea both groaned, before the two redheads quickly rightened themselves up, before Veld could catch them.

"In the meantime, Tseng, you accompiny Scarlet and Heidegger to give them a tour as well. Rude and Cissney will join you." Veld told his Second in Command.

"Yes sir." Tseng nodded.

"Oh, I don't think is nesscery." Scarlet grinned, adding as she looked at Donald before turning away, "It's better to teach that little boy how to speak in proper english."

That did it. Donald exploded in anger like a volcano and quickly reached out for Scarlet who wasn't looking, but he was pulled back by Aqua, Elena, Zack, Aerith, Minnie and Daisy and tried to get him to calm down.

"Your friend certainly has a very short temper." Rufus muttered to Terra about Donald. "He should work on that." before admitting in a whisper, "On the other hand, I can't really blame him for Scarlet's very annoying behavior."

"Welcome to the club, sir." Terra whispered back.

Lea, very annoyed with Yazoo, then gestured Pluto towards him and whispered something in the dog's ear. Pluto smirked and saluted to the youngerish redhead.

"In the meantime, I must find something for Aqua." Yazoo muttered, "Something fabulously decadent and sapphire perhaps."

"Maybe you should consider getting new pants too." Isa smirked, trying not to laugh at what is about to happen.

"Why would I want to consider-" Yazoo was cut off when something bit onto his, uh, lower bottom, and felt a cold draft. He turned to look behind him, and saw that Pluto a piece of his leather clothing, and parts of his ShinRa underwear in his mouth. The silver-haired teen muttered in annoyance, "I could seriously hate you." which Pluto grinned, pleased with himself.

Kadaj tried not to laugh at the sight of his brother's situation. Reno, Lea, Ven, Terra, Donald and Aqua tried hard not to burst into hysterical laughter either, while everyone else sighed in annoyance. But the Headmasters and even the President didn't do anything. Even Rufus smirked.

"I like that dog. He is well trained. Just like my Dark Nation." Rufus admitted.

* * *

Back in town, Mickey, Mushu and Iago were hiding near another stand outside of another store, making sure no one else would notice them. "Okay, okay. Let's not panic and try and think calmly." Mickey told the other two.

"Calmly!?" Iago asked, before exclaiming, "I'm a lizard! Look at this dry, scaly skin!" gesturing at himself, before adding with his frills around his neck, "What about this!? Did I swallow an umbrella or what!?"

"Hey, guys look!" Mushu then piped up, and Mickey and Iago looked as well. On other other end of the street, were Ven, Lea, Reno, Terra and Goofy, along with Yazoo, Kadaj, Loz and Rufus ShinRa. The latter four looked like they were ready to die in boredom, which was really annoying the five friends. Even Goofy looked very annoyed.

"Oh please. Too common." Yazoo muttered, throwing back an item to a store clerk who glared at the young student.

"Nah, this is boring." Kadaj added.

"I don't like this either." Loz added.

"Well, I never...!" said the clerk.

" _Oh please, too common_." Lea mocked behind the silver-haired trio's backs.

" _Nah, this is boring_." Reno added.

" _I don't like this either._ " Even Goofy mocked.

Terra nodded in agreement, "You said it, guys."

Thankfully, Rufus was the only one who wasn't rude. He placed back the item and said to the clerk, "Thank you for your time." and walked off a bit.

"Now I know that the Turk superiors are better than the board and the President and his bratty son." Reno whispered.

"No kidding." Lea agreed.

Ven nodded in agreement, but felt the lamp fall out and he caught it just in time, while Genie popped his head out of the lamp, saying while turning his head into that of a toad, "I know what you're thinkin', Ven. Those four look a lot better as toads, right?"

"Sorry, Genie." Ven apologuised as he pushed Genie's head back into the lamp while making sure Rufus and the silver-haired trio don't notice. "I promised I wouldn't let them see you today."

"C'mon guys. They wanna head back." Terra sighed, "And we promised headmaster Eraqus we'd make them happy."

"I'm not sure if we're doin' a good job at that." Goofy thought. "I wonder where Mickey is, though." he added, joining the others as they all made preparations to return to the Academy.

Witnessing this, Mickey and his group looked at each other and he said, "There's still hope, fellas. Genie will be able to turn us back to normal as the others will recongise us."

"Not too sure on that one, Mickey." Mushu thought.

"Yeah. That's worth zero point nothing on the Hope-ometer." Iago added.

Mickey rolled his eyes, "Oh, quit being a bunch of sourpusses. It'll be over as soon as Genie turns us back to normal. Besides, Ven'll recongise me. I'm the only one who hasn't changed." before adding sheepishly at his current height, "Well, except that I ended up in having the mirror make me shrink. C'mon!" and with that, he raced off, easily dodging the incoming traffic of people.

Mushu and Iago both gulped nervously at the traffic, both knowing they were in serious trouble. "Oh boy." they both muttered and both scurried as fast as they could. Mushu tried very hard to avoid in getting squashed. He then realised his mistake and opened his new wings and flew, then cried out, "Phew! Well, at least being a Beetle has some advantages."

"Hey, no fair!" Iago snapped from the ground, while trying to avoid the traffic. Unfortunately, he was either stepped on the tail, or kicked into places, or thrown into the walls, or repeatedly run over, and while Mickey swiftly dodged everything without getting hurt and Mushu simply flew, Iago ended up getting caught one of the wheels of a wooden cart and was repeatedly rolled over painfully and squashed, while he exclaimed, "Oh! Let me off - oof! Hang on - oof! Somebody's - oof!"

Finally, Mickey found Ven and the others about to leave in the limosine. But when he was about to hop into the car himself, a tall rat jumped out of nowhere and stood in front of him, causing Mickey to skid to a stop.

The rat, named Rattigan, sneered at the shrunked-mouse and asked, "And where do you think you are going?"

While surprised that this rat can talk, Mickey shook that off and replied, nervously, "Uh, to that car." pointing at the car, before attempting to run around Rattigan, but he was blocked off when the rat stepped in front of him again.

"I don't think so." Rattigan smirked cruely, which made Mickey become scared.

"W-why not? It's really important and, well, I-I'm not a normal kind of mouse." Mickey tried to talk his way though, but then he was grabbed by the arm and held up to meet the rat's eye level, which made his fear grow even worse.

"This is my turf, pipsqueak! You're not going around this area again!" Rattigan yelled, before throwing Mickey away.

Mickey landed on top of a small stone stand, as Mushu and a slightly battered Iago joined him, and the three of them could only watch as the car carrying their friends drive away back to the Academy, and Rattigan and his lackies stand guarding the road.

"I-I can't believe it." Mickey gasped, "That rat just tossed me, saying that this area is his...is his territory."

The trio were unable to believe it. They were definately stuck.

* * *

Once again hiding underneath a stand, Mickey, Mushu and Iago tried to figure out a way to get the Academy.

"Oh man, we're doomed." Mushu groaned.

But Mickey was stubborn, and said, "No! We can handle this. We'll just have to find another way around to get to the Academy and summon Genie ourselves."

"Sure, go to the Academy. We'll just use the mice, beetles and lizards entrance." Iago said sarcastically.

"Let's get goin'." Mickey told his friends, once again taking the lead. Mushu followed by flight.

Iago on the other hand, sighed, before looking at the traffic again, and once again, knew that this was going to be extremely painful. He was gonna hate this. He then rushed and attempted to follow Mickey and Mushu, but was once again tramped and stepped and run over on and he complained through out the way, "Oo! Ah! Oo! Watch! Oh! Wait! Wait! Stop! Oww! Oo!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the party in the garden was prepared for students, while two separate parties were being held for the heads of the Academy, the President and the board inside the school. Pluto was sleeping outside until he noticed the same bat from before push his way through a brick in the wall and attempted to go towards the dinner table. But a mouse, Basil, stopped him, and chased the bat back outside and followed him. Pluto tried to catch the two, but was too late.

Whining again, Pluto replaced the brick and walked away, annoyed. He stopped when Genie appeared with a head of a bat, saying, "That bat again, eh?"

Pluto only grumbled, but then he gasped when Genie turned into a hunter and dashed away. Lea and Isa also noticed and followed the dog, screaming.

"Well I'll show you how a real hunter," Genie began, preparing the weapon, "Deals with a bat!" and shot fires all over the place, laughing laughs maniacally until he realizes he just went overboard. He quirked to the viewers in slight realization and sheepishness.

Pluto, Lea and Isa, along with Donald and Goofy, peaked over the bush they were hiding behind which had holes, nervously. There are holes all over the ground too. "That was an overkill and dangerous." Lea muttered.

"Well? There I go! I've gotten carried away and alienated everyone again." Genie sighed as he turned back to normal.

Once they were certain that they were safe, the others joined the rest of their friends. "Has anyone seen Mickey? I can't find him anywhere." Minnie asked, worriedly.

"Well, Aqua's in her room." Terra shrugged.

"Can you blame her?" Zack asked, gesturing at Yazoo, "She definately wants to hide from that stylish Snootnose."

"But if Mickey doesn't come soon, he'll miss out on the New Years Day party." Goofy said, worriedly.

"I'm sure he'll turn up." Ven said. "Why else wouldn't he be here?"

If only the group knew about Mickey's current situation.

* * *

It was afternoon, and Mickey and his friends were still lost. Not only that, they were starving. They haven't had anything to eat since breakfest this morning. "Alright! Dinner break!" Iago announced.

Mickey and the others make track again, before Mushu asked, "What do beetles eat anyway?"

Mickey paused, before he shifted uncomfortably, "Well...dung patches. They eat poop."

Mushu gulped at this, turning a bit green in the face. "Well that's just great. Me being a dung beetle, and I eat dung!" he exclaimed in dismay.

"Too bad for you, pal." Iago smirked.

"Yeah, well, same goes for you, because lizards eath smaller bugs." Mushu pointed out, annoyed.

Gulping at this in dismayed realization, Iago grumbed in anger, "Terrific. I'm a lizard, I'm starving, and I EAT BUGS!" while accidently swallowing a fly while catching with his lizard tongue and flinched in disgust.

"Oh no!" Mickey cried out in dismay, realising where they were. "All that running and we're right back fruit stand!" as his friends joined them. He hated being this small. "Things are so...different from this height."

He then sighed in defeat and muttered, "Well, it's better than nothing." before he makes his way up. Being a half-skilled climber, Mickey climbs up the rug mat on the stand and makes it to the top(while mentally taking advice from Iago and Mushu on not wanting any dung or insects). He knew he had to hide and sneak at the same time, and he didn't like the idea of stealing, but at this point, there was no other choice. He avoided the knife while the clerk was calling out to costumers.

"Fresh fruit here! One bite brings undreamt-of ecstasy! Get them before the bugs do! Finest fruit in all Radiant City! Figs! Figs! The musical fruit! A watermelon a day keeps the doctor away! Fresh fruit! Buy the fruit!" said the clerk.

Mickey opted the closest thing he found and picked up an orange. He found it was heavy due to his current size, and as quickly as he could made his way back to Iago and Mushu who, seeing the orange, both readily position themselves to catch the orange hungrily.

But Mickey didn't even see a costumer of a woman named Madusa and her partner, Snoops, standing there, and while Madusa yelled at the clerk, "Alright, you loudmouth! I'll take an orange to shut you up!" she inadvertly grabbed Mickey who gasped before he found himself slightly squashed by both the 'giant' palm of the woman's hand and the orange. However, as Mickey tried to wiggle himself free, Madusa felt something wiggling in her hand and saw Mickey who stopped and he smiled sheepishly, and waves.

Madusa, one of these woman who shrieks in pure horror at the sight of mice, screamed and drops Mickey and the Orange back on to the counter, and leaped into her partner's arms, squealling, "Snoops! Snoops, a mouse! Oh, kill it, kill it! Just kill it!"

Snoops, being a stupidy stubby man, accidently dropped Madusa and grabbed a knife from the clerk who, also seeing Mickey, faints. Mickey, rightening himself up, quickly rolls the orange while making a run for it, but had to back away as he narrowly dodged from being stabbed, but he accidently tumbled into the pile of oranges, which, now out of balance, all rolled and bounched and fell...right on top of Mushu and Iago who both screamed and while Mushu flew out of the way, Iago was pilled underneath the oranges, painfully.

Mickey jumped off the stand and back onto the ground, and he and Mushu helped Iago out of the pile, before they made a run for it from Madusa and Snoops who tried to chase after them. But he slipped onto an orange and fell onto the ground.

"Mice!" Madusa growled, "Ooooh! I HATE Mice!"

Once in a safe distance, Mickey, Mushu and Iago panted at the close call and not to mention still hungry. Mickey, more than anything, was tramutized at such a horrible experience. He really wanted to return to his true size and go home.

"I...I didn't think it was this hard just to get a little food." Mickey panted, before groaning and slumped to the ground. "Oh, here we are, starving and missing out on the party food at the academy." and Mushu and Iago licked their lips in sad agreement.

Then they heard a car horn and looked to their right. It was a truck carrying crates full of watermelons, which was heading straight towards the Academy.

"Isn't that heading heading to the Academy?" Mushu thought.

Iago, realising what the former dragon was thinking, grumbled, "Forget it. We'll never catch it. There's no hope! Might as well throw in the towel! Cash in our chips!"

Mickey thought, then he looked to his left, and saw a large bow and arrow, with Rattigan and his mice-men there. The arrow was aimed at the sky, and it was attacted to some rope. Mickey then had an idea, and told his friends, "We're not defeated yet!" and dragged them with him as he zipped towards it and while the rats were not looking, they silently climbed onto the arrow.

As Mickey pushed the arrow into another direction towards the truck, he began cutting the rope, and while Mushu asked, "What are you doing?"

Iago then realised what Mickey had in mind, "Oh, I seee! You're gonna use this bow and arrow to..."

But then he and Mushu realised with dread and muttered in unison, "Uh ohhh."

' _3...2...1..._ ' Mickey counted in his head, and not a moment too soon, he and his friends are shot and flown into the air and they then fell...right into a watermelon on top of the crates. It was painful, but at least they were finally on their way back to the Academy.

"Just when I think there are no new kinds of pain, I find one." Iago grunted.

* * *

Later that night, at the Garden of the Academy, Ven, Terra, Aqua, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Minnie, Lea, Isa, Cloud, Tifa, Zack, Aerith, Reno, Rude, Elena, Cissnei, Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis, Myde, female-Terra, Zidane, Garnet, Yazoo, Loz, Kadaj, and little Sora, little Riku, little Kairi, and little Yuffie, along with other students, were all waiting for Mickey, but he hadn't shown up yet. They were all bored, and Myde had fallen asleep, with his head resting on the table.

In the other two parties, everyone was bored there as well, especially Rufus and Tseng who hid it pretty well.

At the student's party, Genie, dressed up as a in pink as a housewife with big white hair, and he spoke in a female southern accent, walking around the students.

"Oh, I declare it's such a delight to cook for the wonderful students of the Academy. And, ohhh, Are you going to be pleased!" He said, before showing everyone the food served up on the table, "Goat au gratin, hummus on the half shell, and deep fried camel fritters like MOMMA used to make!"

Lea attempted to open one of the dishes as he was starving, but Isa smacked him on the hand, stopping him. The redhead glared at his friend who looked away innocently. Genie clicked his tongue and waved a finger at Lea, saying, "We're all red-haired and impatience, aren't we now?"

"Now, if a certain Mickey Mouse would show up." Genie thought, before he realised he forgot something and muttered to himself, "Oh, my spoons and spices. I've forgotten my little weenie o'dourves! Must dash!"

Genie then disappeared back into the lamp without the silver-haired trio noticing, thankfully. "Where's Mickey? I haven't seen him all day." Sora asked, looking around.

"I'm sure he'll show up when we least expect him." Terra thought.

As Ven made sure the lamp was out of sight, underneath the table, Mickey, Mushu and Iago, who had all made it and had eventually made their way into the garden, rushed up to Ven. Mickey tapped the boy's leg, causing him to blink in confusion. When Ven looked, and saw a familiar small mouse, his eyes widened as he recongised him.

Before Ven could say anything, however, Mickey pressed a finger on his lips, gesturing his friend to be quiet and jerked his thumb to back inside. Seeing the message, Ven picked up the trio and hid them inside his pockets, before sitting back up and hesitatedly told the others, "Uh, guys? I uh...could you excuse me for a couple of minutes?"

Before anyone else could say anything, Ven stood up and dashed back inside, much to everyone else's confusion.

"What was that about?" Reno asked, puzzled.

The others shrugged.

* * *

Making it to Mickey's room without being seen, Ven closed the door behind him and digged out his now tiny friends and placed them onto Mickey's bed. "Mickey? Iago? Mushu? What happened? How did this happen?" Ven asked in a whisper.

"Well, it's a long story, but uh, we need Genie to turn us back to normal." Mickey told his friend. "Besides, I really don't like being small."

"I can see that." Ven nodded in agreement, before he digged out the lamp and rubbed it, "Genie, a little help?"

Genie came out, still in his disguise, muttering, "Keep it steady, Ven! I'm flippin' pancakes!" before he noticed Mickey and changed back, greeting, "Ooh! Hi, Mickey! Sorry about..." before realising something is different. "Say there's something different about you, isn't there? New clothes?"

"I've shrunk!" Mickey cried out.

"That's it! Ohh that's a good look for you!" Genie thought.

Mickey facepalmed himself, before pleading, "Genie, you gotta help me, please? I don't wanna be this small anymore! You gotta change me back to my real size!"

Genie was nervous, muttering, "I'll try, but my powers aren't what they used to be. Nothing up my sleeve!" before he removes his arms as if pushing up his sleeves and zapped magic onto Mickey, "Presto!"

Mickey is zapped by the magic. His body returned to normal, but his head was still too small. "Mmm, that's not it." Genie said. He tries again, and this time, Mickey is met with the opposite result. Zapped again, and Mickey this time was back to normal, but in different clothes( **A/N: Psst! This is his KH2 outfit** ).

"Where did that come from?" Genie asked, breaking the fourth wall. He then tries again, and this time, succeeds.

Mickey, seeing himself finally back to his real human size, red shorts and all, he sighed in relief. "Finally!"

"Uh, excuse me?" Mushu spoke up. "I appreciate you turning me back into a dragon here!"

Genie, seeing the beetle Mushu, zapped him as well and Mushu was now back into his normal form and he cheered. "Yeah! Woo hooo hooo! I'm back!" Mushu cheered happily.

"Hey, what about me?" Iago asked, tugging Genie's tail. "You think I like being cold-blooded?"

Seeing Iago, Genie zapped him back to normal as well. At first, Iago smiled that he was now a parrot again, all of the sudden, his feathers then poofed like to look like he had frills around his neck. Now irritated again, Iago grumbled, "Oh, this is great. I'll NEVER get this down. I LOOK LIKE A PETUNIA OVER HERE!"

Ven, relieved to see Mickey back to his real normal size, then asked, "Mickey, what happened? How did you get so small?"

Now nervous on how to explain this, Mickey stumbled, "Uh, uh, um..." then lied while stuttering, "Iago!"

"What?!" Iago exclaimed, but he was ignored.

"Yeah, Iago was looking for money and found some at a gyspy stand." Mickey continued, "But it really wasn't money, it was a pile of magic dust-no, it was cursed gold-I mean, jewelry! Magical ones-upon touched can curse you-they do that, you know-and uh, shrunk me, turned Iago into a lizard and Mushu into a beetle!" before turning to Iago and Mushu, asking, "Didn't they, fellas?"

Iago and Mushu looked at him skeptically, then played along and nodded in agreement. But Ven looked a bit skeptical and muttered, "Okay...?" not really buying it.

Seeing the expression, Mickey slumped in defeat, and admitted, "Okay, you caught me. I was just trying to find somethin' to make this year's New Year's Day extra special while provin' that I can do things while being my current height, and somethin' went kinda screwy."

"Oh, right." Ven realised, then sighed. "I'm sorry, Mickey. We didn't mean to upset you about your height. I guess those silver-haired guys, Scarlet and Heidegger really got to us today that we weren't really cheerful." before hugging Mickey. "But you're okay of who you are."

"Gosh, really?" Mickey asked, surprised.

"Absolutely." Ven replied, and Genie nodded in agreement.

Mickey smiled, emotional. This was the nicest thing his friends had ever said to him. "Aw, you guys are just swell." and he hugged Ven back. "Welp, better not keep the others waitin'. Let's head over to the party."

* * *

It was definately a party to remember, alright. As soon as Mickey joined up with the rest of his friends and the other students, Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj ended up fighting which ended up in a food fight, while Scarlet and Heidegger had a heated argument to the point of storming out, and the President and Rufus, along with Xehanort, Ansem and Eraqus laughed up a storm that they didn't even borther or minded in the students having a food fight for once.

Eventually, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo were the ones, along with Scarlet and Heidegger were told to clean up the mess while the rest of the group and the Turks, the President and Rufus and Veld were enjoying the rest of the evening. Eventually, the three Galbadian students, Scarlet and Heidegger stormed out and took taxies to hotels. After that and filled with food, everyone else waited for the moment to come.

Then it came. At the strike of twelve, midnight, fireworks were lit and exploded into the sky, creating spetaculer lights in the sky. Everyone smiled happily.

Minnie, who didn't know about Mickey's adventure, snuggled up against him and Mickey smiled at her. It's been very eventful, but Mickey was certain for one thing.

He never complained about his height ever again.

To be Continued.

* * *

 **A/N: An adventurous start of the new year, huh? To those who are familiar with the series, welcome back and sorry for the wait. I've been struggling on how to start season 2 for ages while struggling with my other current stories, but when New Year's Day came, it struck me and thus, I was able to combine it with the idea of the episode I've wanted to write for ages.**

 **Please review, fellow readers, and see you in the next episode.**

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016! Fixed a few things up.  
**


	2. Episode 2: The not so Bright Future

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: This story is gonna be harder than my last one because I don't think this will have much in a way of episodes, but I will do my best. I'll give you a hint on today's episode-based on another episode of Mickey Mouse Works...well, maybe from House of Mouse, actually.**

 **Warning: This may upset you, so read if you dare, or, you can skip this episode and wait for the next one.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 2: The not so Bright Future.

Today it was science class at Radiant Academy, much to the students' dismay. To make things worse, Professor Von Drake was teaching this time, while Even was off sick with the flu(which the students didn't mind so much), but today's class was unexpected. There was some kind of large projector screen, with a remote and some kind of head-gear.

"Now, class. Today's lesson is learning about the future." Von Drake began, "You know about the good old days?" Showing the students a picture of the olden times, like the old fashioned dancing, horse carriages, ect, adding, "Well, you all also know that the good old days weren't so good."

"Um, everyone knows that, Professor." Ven pointed out, as he sat on a stool, as Donald sat next to him on another stool.

"Yes, yes, but what we should be talking about, is the good future days." Von Drake continued, smiling, pulling off the turf of the projector, "Introducing, the Von Drake Future Viewer!" to reveal it better.

There was an awkward moment of pause, until Arlene and Myde both began laughing hysterically at the so called Future Viewer, while Mickey, Minnie, Isa, Goofy, Daisy, Terra, Aqua and Girl-Terra all glanced at each other, puzzled. It wasn't until Girl-Terra raised a hand and she questioned, "Um, excuse me, Professor? What does the Future Viewer actually do?"

"Ho! That's a good question, dear." Von Drake began, "This baby will show you the future where all of your problems are going to be solved. So demostrate, that's why we have our fellow students with common everyday problems." Gesturing at Ven and Donald and...a third empty stool. "Wait a second! Where's Lea?"

As if on cue, Lea bursted through the door, panting, before taking the closest seat which was the stool next to Donald, and rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly, and said, "Sorry I'm late. Got caught up in training with Reno."

"That'll perfectly be solved! Good example!" Von Drake said proudly, much to the redhead's confusion. Before Lea could say anything, the teacher plonked the head-gear onto the teen's head, which the gear was connected to the projector.

"Huh? What's this helmet?" Lea asked, only to cringe as Von Drake pushed the botton on the remote and the teen was surrounded by green circles from the helmet.

"Bon Voyage!" Von Drake said to the student, as he and everyone else looked at the screen, which then showed a 30th Century like world, with moving side-walks and flying cars.

"In the future, you don't have to worry about being late or even the traffic, or even a driver's license." Von Drake told the students. Inside the projector, Lea suddenly appeared on a platform, much to everyone's surprise. Suddenly a cart that resembled to his hair appeared, while Von Drake continued, "Because you can drive and get to any destination in no time flat."

"Whoa, this is so cool." Lea said inside the screen, and at the same time, the real Lea said that as well. Suddenly, Lea was bumped into his 'future' cart and right into the driver's seat.

"In the future, you can go driving without crashing." Von Drake continued.

Lea didn't like the sound of that, as the cart suddenly sped and he quickly to the wheel, and narrowly avoided crashing into other vehicles, thankfully they didn't crash either. The teen had trouble as he screamed out, "Crazy hover-car!" and eventually, the hover-car stopped and Lea was nearly thrown out of his seat. He looked paraylzed.

"Would you look at that? Safe and sound." Von Drake said, smiling, though the students didn't look convinced. "But, there's still other ways from getting from point A to Point B. Like the future moving side-walk."

Suddenly, Lea appeared on a sidewalk in a hallway, and realising what's about to happen, could only mutter scaredly, "Uh-oh." and a second later, the sidewalk zipped in high speed, taking Lea with it, as he screamed and his eyes widened in horror as he was suddenly heading straight towards a wall. Quickly, Lea jumped off and landed back onto the normal floor, before the screen went blank.

The helmet was taken off by a tramutized Lea who looked dizzy and ready to pass out. "Think I'm gonna be sick." the redhead muttered as his mind functioned to his body back in the real world again.

"Kya-hahahahaha! Aw, does little Lea need a bandaid for his little boo-boo?" Arlene mocked and teased, unable to help herself.

Lea glared at the blond-haired girl, sneering, "I'd like to see you try that, and then come and mock me."

She instantly shut up about that. Isa shrugged and mouthed an 'You okay?' to Lea who nodded, smiling a bit at his best friend's sympathy.

"The future has all kinds of things." Von Drake continued, before going over to Donald and asked, "Now, Donald, what's your common everyday problem?"

Donald's only answer was Huey, Dewy and Louie dancing around him to drive him crazy, and pretend he was in a cauldon. How his newphews got here during class was anyone's guess.

"I see." Von Drake understood, "Those nephews of yours are driving you to the point of being boiling mad." and did the same thing as he did with Lea a little while ago.

Once again, the students were shown another projector screen, and this time, Donald appeared inside it, as he looked around in awe, before asking, "Uh, where are the boys?"

"They're right over there." Von Drake instructed, and inside the screen, Huey, Dewy and Louie were running on some kind of running machines, seemingly playing while he continued, "In the future, you can have kiddies to power up electronic devices."

"Electronics? Oh boy!" Donald said, excitedly. He then appeared at the super ultra-wide screen TV, as Von Drake told him that he could have all kinds of fun. At this response, Donald raced a golf ball on the sports golf channel to the other side of the room, then repeated in the opposite direction with a bowling ball.

The other students all looked at each other, not finding this vision of the 'future' good either. In fact, it just looked and seemed very wrong. The girls in the class then had to look away as the screen then showed an tubless tub and Donald throwing away his towel and leaped into the floating bubble of water.

"Okay, that's seriously wrong." Lea muttered, cringing at the sight of it in the projector. "And I thought my future was bad."

Next, Donald,(back in his clothing, thank Minvera, I think) had another cap with an attena on his head, as Von Drake continued, "With my Wi-Fi cap, you can log on and go online straight from your brain."

Too bad for Donald, the result of this caused him to become very dizzy, and there wasn't enough memory. The cap then disappeared and he then collasped onto a soft purple mattress. "Tired?" Von Drake asked, then explained, "Why not catch some shut eye with your anti-gravity bed, where it can make you feel like you're sleeping on nothing."

Donald inside the screen went to sleep and was then floating up, much to everyone's confusions, while Von Drake concluded, "And the best part is, all of these devices are powered by those little kiddies."

"That's not fair." Mickey protested. "Using kids like that!" and everyone else agreed. Using children to power up devices? That was just down right cruel.

In fact, Huey, Dewy and Louie inside the projector agreed, and all three boys stopped running, which cuts the power off. Donald, realising this, fell and the screen went blank, but in reality, Donald collasped into the floor, where he made a hole shaped like him, as the helmet came off his head.

"Ouch. That oughta hurt." Myde mumbled, feeling sorry for Donald.

"So, what did you think about that, Donald?" Von Drake asked.

"Aw Phooey." was Donald's answer.

Von Drake then turned to Ven and asked, "Now then, Ventus. What's your complaint?"

Thinking about it, Ven then shrugged and replied, "Well, I wish I wasn't treated like a kid most of the time." looking apologetically at Aqua and Terra who both chuckled softly.

"Not to worry." Von Drake replied, and again, did the same thing as he did to Lea and Donald. Ven now had the helmet on his head and the same thing happened to him as it happened to two of his friends.

Inside the projector of another future area, Ven found himself alone, as he asked, "Well, what'm I supposed to do here?" confused on what was going to happen to him.

"First in being treated like an adult, you can talk to them on your wrist phone." Von Drake answered, and Ven found he had a phone-like wrist band on his wrist. "Talk about handy." Von Drake added.

On cue, the wrist-phone rings, and, Ven answered, "Hello? Terra?"

But instead of Terra, it was Goofy who replied, " _Ay-yhuck! Nope. Guess again._ "

Just then, Ven heard another ring, and quickly found there was another wrist-phone on his other wrist, as Von Drake explained, "All Wrist-Phones come equipt with wrist waiting."

Getting the idea, Ven told Goofy to hang on, before he answered his other wrist-phone, asking this time, "Hello? Aqua?"

" _Sorry, Ven, but nope._ " This time it was Mickey who answered. Ven got annoyed, before he found an ankle-fax machine which got him all tangled up in a long rope of paper, as a sudden ankle-answering machine rang, which his own voice said to the caller, " _Hi, this is Ven, I'm not near my ankle right now. Please leave a message._ "

The message was sent and Ven heard two voices, one was from Terra, " _Ven, it's Terra and Aqua. How are things going?_ " and the other from Aqua, " _Ven, are you okay? Call us back._ "

Ven then found himself at a TV-Telephone as Von Drake told him he can ring up his friends by a push of a botton, which he did and found Terra and Aqua talking to each other, until he said, "Hey, guys."

" _Ven! How're you doing?_ " Terra asked.

" _I hope nothing bad happened to you._ " Aqua added.

The blonde-haired teen shrugged, saying, "I'm okay. Besides, I can look after myself, you guys know that, right?" only for a female robot to suddenly appear beside him and Ven's eyes widened as Von Drake told him that in case something else happened to his friends, someone else can look after him.

To make things worse, Terra and Aqua both said, "So you can. Well, talk to you later." and then just hung up.

"Guys, wait!" Ven cried out, but it was too late, as the robot than cuddled him and then milk-bottled fed him like a baby, to which Ven was finding this a nightmare.

The screen then turned black and Ven was back in reality, and completely tramutized, as the helmet plonked off his head. He, Donald and Lea all looked shocked and horrified, while Mickey and the rest of their friends went up to them to see if they were alright.

"Well, boys." Von Drake asked the three students, "What do you think of the future now?" as the trio recovered and they, their friends, and the rest of the students all glared at him in sheer annoyance, having forced them to take part of the stupid useless and not to mention unfair class.

"I have a better idea." Ven muttered, taking the remote from the teacher and replied, "Take a look and see for yourself." and he pressed the botton, causing Von Drake to have the same effects as Ven, Lea and Donald experienced earlier.

Von Drake inside the projector appeared and was bumped into a hover-cart of his own, and a female robot sitting next to him. "Ooh! The Professor predicts a lot of fun in his future." He thought.

"You know it, baby!" The female robot replied, hugging Von Drake who realised what was about to happen.

"Oh no." He muttered, until his hover-cart zoomed all over the place and he screamed his head off, while the students smirked in getting their little revenge on the teacher.

* * *

A day later, when the students told the Headmasters of what happened, they were not pleased with Von Drake's attentions, and granted the students premission to trash the projector while Von Drake's punishment was to focus on his paperwork for the rest of the week.

"Well then," Ven said as he and the others were holding sledge hammers, "Shall we?"

"I've always loved the Whack-the-Junk game." Lea teased.

After that, the students made sure to never look too far into the future and focus on their own futures as well as the fun times of the present, because let's face it, the present isn't as disasterous sometimes, and no one can really foretell the future, or in this case, shove it into their heads.

To Be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: I know this is short and not really appealling, but I wanted to write something before I go and post another chapter I want to write for this story.**

 **Please continue your reviews fellow readers and I'll see you again in the next chapter.**


	3. Episode 3: Elemental, my dear Aqua

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Episode three at your service, and we may have a new cast member join the group of Radiant Academy.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 3: Elemental, my dear Aqua.

It was a nice sunny day once again at Radiant City. In fact, it was such a nice day, it rather too nice to skip the beach. Eraqus assigned for a day trip to Destiny Town near Costa Del Sol and the students of Radiant Academy were excited for this. After completing a school assignment on the history of merpeople who were not seen for the last 200 years, the students wasted no time in heading towards the beach.

This is where our heroes are at right now. At the beautiful beach of the town itself, surrounded by cliffs and rocks, which was perfectly fine for them. Some were tanning, some were picking up sea-shells, some where playing, and, well, in Iago's case, he was just groaning.

"I don't get this beach stuff." Iago was saying to Mushu who was tanning himself, "I used to live in the desert, okay? So what do we do for fun? Frolic in the sand!" he yelled, while kicking sand at Mushu who by now was getting annoyed as he tried to have a mango. "I think someone needs to get a life-"

The bird was cut off when Mushu shoved the mango into his beak to shut him up, as the small dragon grumbled, "Would you mind quitting your whining? It's getting on my nerve and I wanna enjoy my first day at the beach, man."

Meanwhile, Ven, Lea, Isa and Genie were playing volleyball, with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Zack, Cloud, Reno, Myde and Rude cheering each team. Mickey, Goofy, Zack and Cloud were cheering on for Ven and Isa who was competing against Lea and Genie who both had Reno, Rude, Myde and Donald cheering on them. The boys were all dressed in different kinds of swimming trunks, except Genie who was magical.

"Do over! Do over!" Genie called up.

"Would you just hurry up already?" Lea asked impaitently, wearing nothing but his yellow and orange trunks.

"Now I'm warmed up." Genie said, before twising his fist and punched the ball from his other hand, calling out, "Return this!"

Ven jumps and returns the hit, and Lea only responded just in time to return it to the other team, and this time Isa returned it, hitting the ball to the ground where it buried itself half into the sand, and Lea and Genie both dived in to hit it, but instead, both hit the sand face first and layed flat on the sand. Both pushed themselves up and spat out sand out of their mouths. Despite Team Lea lost, Reno and Donald couldn't help bursting out into laughter, while the others chuckled as well.

"Hey! We weren't ready!" Lea whined as he stood up and held the ball in his hands, before glaring at his cousin and friends and grumbled, "And you guys shut up."

But still, he and Genie continued to play the game with smiles of their own.

As Elena, Cissnei, Minnie, Daisy, and Arlene were wearing bikini's and were tanning out in the sun, and Tifa and Aerith collecting sea shells, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Yuffie and their friends Tidus, Yuna and Rikku who were the same age as the four other children were building sand castles, Terra and Aqua, who were the only ones not wearing beach clothes, but were wearing summer clothes to stay cool, Terra wearing a shirt, shorts and sand shoes, Aqua was wearing a beautiful thin tank top and shorts and shoes, hand in hand, holding hand, walking along the beach.

"Terra," Aqua began as she and her boyfriend paused, "Did you date any other girls before me?"

Terra blinked, puzzled, "No. Of course not." he replied, "You're the only one for me, Aqua."

"Really?" The blue-haired young woman asked, curiously and somewhat happy.

"Yeah." The brown-haired young man added, smiling, "No one will ever come between us."

The two stared at each other's eyes, and looked ready to share a kiss...too bad the moment was ruined, because Genie, at that exact moment, cried out, "Heads up!" and to their horror, and the shock of Ven and the others who was seeing this, despite Ven calling out, "Genie, look out for Terra and Aqua!" it was too late, as Genie, while trying to catch the ball, accidently comes barreling between the two of them, knocking Aqua into the water with a splash.

Seeing Aqua stand up from the shores of the beach and out of the water, Genie cringed, and sheepishly muttered, "Oh. Sorry."

Aqua, soaked and wet, stood up and looked at herself, but too late, she didn't notice a large tidal wave come storming right on top of her and she was again knocked to the ground and this time, more soaked than ever. Everyone else, hearing her cries, turned to see, and, in an amusing sight, she was not only drenched, her short hair was so messy it was almost as bad as Reno's, and she was covered in star fish and seaweed.

Iago bursted out laughing at the sight.

Even Terra found this funny, but he tried not to laugh, but it was becoming difficult. "Aqua...Are you..." he couldn't even finish his sentence, as he only ended up snickering, trying to prevent the laughter that was threatening to escape.

Ven, Cissnei, Elena, Tifa, Aerith, Minnie, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy helped Aqua to her feet, as they were more sorry for their friend than finding this amusing. Even the small children rushed over to see if she was okay.

"It's not funny!" Aqua snapped, pulling out the seaweed from her hair, as Iago flew over to her. She was highly annoyed, and, really, who can blame her? Too bad most of her friends didn't see the sympathy side of this.

"Okay, we're not laughing at you..." Iago muttered, before admitting defeat and bursted out, "Well actually, yes, we are!" and he bursted into a hysterical laughter, "AHH, HA HA HA!"

Soon enough, Lea, Donald, Reno, Mushu, Myde, Arlene, Zack, and Genie all also bursted into loud hysterical laughters that some of them even ended up forming tears of laughter, and Myde collasped to the ground, holding his stomach in laughter, and Arlene holding her own stomach. Lea clapped his legs, and Reno was having trouble breathing due to laughing. Unfortuntely, even Cloud, Isa and Rude chuckled in amusement.

"Guys!" Terra scolded, but was still smirking. Unfortunately, when Aqua tried to pull a star fish off from the side of her dress, instead, she made a large tear, which showed the side of her waist. Finally, even he admitted defeat and laughed loudly.

"Ooh!" Aqua growled, and even without hearing Ven and the rest of the group, who were more sorry for her, she stormed off with a huff, in fury. Seeing her storm off the laughter died down as the rest of the group watched her go.

Ven rolled his eyes and grumbled to the others who had laughed earlier, "That wasn't even funny, guys." as he, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Elena, Tifa, Aerith, Cissnei, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Yuffie, Tidus, Yuna and even Goofy all glared at Terra and the rest of the group, all very annoyed. "You just made Aqua's day even worse." the blonde-haired teen added.

At this statement, Terra realised that his friend was right. The others all looked at each other, while the rest of the women in their group, hoping to find Aqua, all walked off, with Tifa saying, "We'll take the kids back to restort and look for Aqua." without even asking Mickey and the others who didn't laugh for help, while the girls took the six children to dry off.

Watching the women go, Zack, feeling sheepish, grumbled, "I think we're in trouble."

"Yeah, we're in deep crud." Reno sighed.

"I'm gonna go look for Aqua too." Terra decided, and walked off.

"Terra, wait up!" Ven called up, racing to catch up to his best friend.

* * *

Aqua meanwhile, didn't return to the resort, but instead, she has wandered into a grotto. She sits on a rock overlooking the water, and looks at her reflection and cringed at the messy state she was in.

"Well," Aqua began to herself as she pulled another piece of seaweed from her hair, "Well they didn't have to laugh." she grumbled as she threw it into the water.

Just then, seconds later, another tidal wave appeared behind her, and before Aqua could even cry out, it hit her and she was forced to fall into the lagoon. She quickly resurfaced and gasped for air, but as she cried out for help, she is suddenly pulled underwater by a strange whirlpool and pulled deeper and deeper into the water until she reached the bottom and the whirlpool stopped, but she was deep trouble now.

She was quickly drowning and gasping for air.

"Hello, sailor!" a voice said as a mermaid with red hair, ending in a lobster tail, spiral shell earrings, and is wearing a reddish-orange bustier top and tail with tiger shark markings swam up to her. But the mermaid then realised the human who was coughing and drowning wasn't even a boy, and she muttered to Aqua accussingly, "You're not a sailor – you're a girl!"

Aqua continued to cough, pleading for air. The mermaid, looking annoyed, waved her hand and throws some magic around the human girl, which instantly, Aqua stopped coughing and practically stopped drowning all together, much to her amazement.

"Huh? How can I breathe underwater?" Aqua asked, confused, even though she was glad that she wasn't drowning anymore.

"That's because this is enchanted water." The mermaid replied, swimming around her. "But it only works in enchanted water. Works wonders for the complexion, too."

The blue-haired girl blinked, stunned. She was talking to a mermaid-an actual mermaid! Aqua couldn't believe it. She thought that, after history class in merpeople, that they were extinct. Still, as if this was a normal person, she couldn't help but ask, "Um, excuse me, but who are you?"

"I am Selene, daughter of the water, siren of the sea, belle of the swell!" Selene the mermaid replied, as she examines herself in a shell mirror, and swims back to Aqua.

"Um, it's nice to meet you." Aqua replied, "My name is Aqua. I'm a student of Radiant Academy."

"Well, despite that your name means water, and you do look mermaid material, you look like a shipwreck." Selene muttered, pulling out a star-fish and some crabs that got stuck in Aqua's hair, before muttering to herself, "I should know, I've caused a few."

Slightly embarrassed, Aqua explained, "I don't normally look like this. My friends, boyfriend and I were-"

"Boy trouble?" Selene interrupts, then shakes her head, as if what she was told was the saddest thing in the world, or in this case, under the sea, and said, "You surface girls! The agony you put yourselves through!"

"But's not agony, we have fun, along with my other friends." Aqua pointed out, only to have a pink Octopus to grab her and pull her to his lap, and began working up fixing up her hair.

"Your hair is." Selene pointed out, before introducing the Octopus, "Meet Armand! He's a miracle worker!"

Despite that Aqua was a little thankful that her hair was getting rid of the seaweed and other things, she was starting to get annoyed. Just then, she heard a familiar voice calling out her name from the surface. Realising who it is, she excitedly stood up, saying, "That's Terra!"

"Your boyfriend?" Selene asked, disgusted and obviously jealous.

"Of course." Aqua replied, "We have some differences, but nothing can come between us, and, well, we're both kinda like older sibilings to our friend, Ven."

"Worships the dirt you walk on, does he?" Selene asked, slyly.

Hearing this made Aqua supicious, as she asked, "If that's the right word. Why do you say that?"

Selene grins at her, takes the brush from Armand, and begins to brush her own hair, as she told Aqua, "Then it will be a challenge for me to steal his heart."

This shocked Aqua and made her angry. But before she could make a move, suddenly Armand grabs her with a tentacle, pinning her to him, and Selene just smiles a nasty grin, before she picks up a seashell. She squeezes it, and pearls spit out, forming a necklace for her.

"Let go of me!" Aqua grunted as she struggled to free herself.

"Sinking ships gets so old, and I've never worked the dry side." Selene sneered, as Terra and then Ven continued to call out to Aqua. She then continued while Aqua continued to struggle, "But land or sea, I'm still me. I'll win!" and swims up to the surface.

"Aqua! Come on, where are you?" Ven called out.

"We were just kidding!" Terra called out.

Aqua could only watch in horror, then reanewed her attempts to free herself, while Armand begins to move towards a fallen rock. Having an idea, she puts both her feet on it and pushes hard. It propels them backward. Armand knocks his head on a rock and is dazed. From above a cliff, a large conch shell is pushed by something and it lands right onto Armand's head, causing him to let go of Aqua.

Just then, before she could make for the surface, Aqua is suddenly greeted by another, younger mermaid with black hair tied up in a pony tail, a white tank top with a small green bow, and a pink normal mermaids tail, as she grabs Aqua's hand and begins pulling her up to the surface, saying, "C'mon! I'll take you to the surface!"

"Who're you?" Aqua asked as she swims next her apparent savior.

"I'm Melody, and I'm not like that mean Selene. She's been on even on other merpeople's cases for months now." Melody the young mermaid, apparently no older than twelve years old, replied.

"I'm Aqua. Selene's going after my friend, Terra." Aqua replied back.

"Then we'd better hurry!" Melody said.

* * *

Selene has reached the surface, and pulls herself up on a rock, before she throws some magic dust trails from her hand that encircles around her tail, making them become legs. It also causes her to now be wearing a reddish-orange and yellow dress, with remarkably similar markings that she had before on her tail. She looks at her self and moves her feet, as she was also wearing shoes.

"Legs? What's all the fuss about?" Selene muttered to herself, before she noticed movement in the water below, and saw that Aqua and Melody were trying to catch up to her, and she mocked, "Ooh! The Student of Radiant Academy and the transformation Princess are mad at me!" holding up her hands as if to defend herself, "I'm scared!" before she points at the water and her magic solidifies the waters surface, like a large plastic cover.

Aqua and Melody make it to the surface, but cannot break through. "That's not fair, Selene! Get back here!" Melody yelled as she and Aqua both pound at the surface, but they cannot break through. They were both trapped and stuck.

Selene smirks, saying, "Don't worry, Melody. I'm just making you a mermaid full time, but you shouldn't worry about your new friend, Aqua. the spell can't be broken until I return..." adding to herself with an even more nastier smirk, " _If_ I return."

* * *

Terra and Ven both returned to the others while the rest of the girls in their group were still looking as well, leaving the boys on their own. Terra sat on the sand in defeat, sighing, "I didn't mean to make her mad."

"I just don't get it." Ven sighed, "Sometimes Aqua is hard to understand."

Just then, they and the others have large magic burst aroun them and the group are seated in four large round tables, which are faced towards a stage that suddenly appears out of nowhere. The magic red carpet appeared again as well, and it was drums. When he finished his set, a spotlight shins on the stage, and Genie appears. He is dressed in a jacket and shirt, and his tail is a microphone. He winces when he gets feedback on the mike, and taps it.

He then says to the 'audience', "Hey it's great to be back! Anybody here from out of the city-state? You know, I love fun students, but what's with the deal with girls today?" before going up to the guys of the group, who look on skeptically, as he continues, "They say they want a guy with a sense of humor, but if ya laugh at em-"

Genie makes a death-slice gesture which he literally slices off his head which rolls and lands onto the table Ven, Terra, Zack, Mickey, Goofy, Iago and Mushu are at, while Carpet gives a drum roll. Everyone looks at Genie's head, as he's still talking, asking, "Is it me, or what?"

"Yeah." Mickey nodded, "Why do girls have to be so complicated?"

"They really should adore any kind of guy." Reno stated with a smirk, "End of story."

"Yeah, especially how Mulan was picky about guys when she was in the army." Mushu added, before admitting, "Though that day when she took a bath in the river was a close call in being busted."

The rest of the group all groaned, as Cloud grumbled, "We really didn't need to know that. Now I'm gonna end up having nightmares tonight."

Terra sighed, still rejected as he muttered, "Tell that to Aqua."

Genie, in response, blows up his head which reappeared back onto his body, as he continued, "Now take my fifth master, Sheik Boo-Baum, fifty wives and a thousand and one nights, now, ha ha, I'm no mathematician but-" only to be cut off and turns back to normal as he sees someone. It's Selene, who is approaching. "Uh-oh! We got company!" and quickly turns into a small blue crab and scarries behind a small rock, while the set and tables all disappear.

Ven, Terra and the others, just as the girls and the kids return and were also seeing Selene approach, all eyed the new girl with blank expressions. Selene approached Terra and to his surprise, she places a finger onto his lips, as she said, "Careful! I know someone who drowned that way!" before she goes over to a rock and sits on it, poses seductively.

Reno, thoroughly impressed by Selene's appearence, gives a soft, low and long whistle. "Now that's a woman after my own heart." he whispered, which Rude rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses at his friend's impression.

Mushu, in annoyance, pinched Terra's leg, causing the latter to mutter, "Ouch!" before grunting in annoyance, "Mushu!"

"We have to find Aqua." Mushu whispered and rest of the group nodded.

"Ah, c'mon, let's not hurry." Reno grinned, "This girl's a babe." and Myde nodded in agreement. While Lea, on the other hand, wanted to agree, instead, he was frowning. Something was supicious about this new woman, and he didn't like it.

Even Iago agreed with Reno and Myde as he said, "And did you see those pearls? She's rich!"

"Money's not everything, you know, Iago." Lea pointed out. "Besides, Aqua's the only girl for Terra."

"Yeah!" Mushu added.

"Hey, this girl's longing for attention." Reno stated.

That's when Ven had an idea, and thought, "Maybe she's seen Aqua." as he and Terra, along with Iago approached Selene. Reno was about to approach, only to be held back by Elena who pulled him away in annoyance. The other girls were also quite annoyed. In fact, everyone else were immediately supicious with the new girl that appeared, even if she was likely lived in Destiny Town.

"I seek a brave and manly escort to accompany me to town." Selene said, 'sweetly' with her hand raised to shade her eyes in the classic looking far and wide gesture like in the romantic movies. (Blugh! I hate those kind of movies.) As Terra comes to the rock and helps her up, she continues, " But I don't know my way around! I am so very far from my kingdom."

"Whoa! She's from a kingdom too!" Reno exclaimed, only to have Elena tug his ear hard, causing him to cry out, "Ow! Elena!"

"Womanizer." Elena grunted in sheer annoyance. "Besides, Aqua isn't even at the resort."

Behind everyone's backs, Selena noticed a blue crab, and realised it's Genie, and grinned. While Genie didn't know it, She points at him with her hand behind her back. A large wave comes up onto the beach and grabs him, carrying him, and accidently, Mushu far off shore, as both of them cried out as the current carries them away.

As Terra takes his arm away from Selene, he then asked, "Actually, I'm looking for someone too. Have you seen a girl?"

Knowing that he was asking about Aqua, Selene pretended to look thoughtful for her plans to go through, saying, "You know, I did pass a damp young thing with blue hair."

"That's Aqua!" Ven said, excitedly. "Where is she?"

"She stormed off, complaining about her dreadful ex-boyfriend." Selene lied.

"Ex?" Terra stuttered, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"No way..." Ven muttered sadly.

"Don't worry, Ven. I'll find her and straighten this out." Terra said, as he climbed down the rock, and then told the others, "Hey guys, I'm gonna head back to town."

To Terra's slight dismay, Selene giggled and wrapped her arms around his arm, saying, "Oh-a! Well it looks like I have my brave and manly escort after all!"

"Uh, yeah...I guess?" Terra muttered, feeling uncomfortable, as she pulled him with her to town.

As the others watched them go, Minnie fumed, "Ooh! Who does she think she is, doing that to Terra?"

"Yeah, there's something about that girl that is very supicious." Tifa agreed, placing her hands on her hips, also fuming, "I don't like her one bit."

"You ladies are just jealous." Reno shook his head, smirking. "Terra can't help that he's a popular guy."

"Actually, I'm with Tifa and Minnie on this one." Zack muttered, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "That girl really had her eyes on Terra, and, well, she gives me the creeps."

"You and me both." Lea agreed.

"I'm surprised, considering. I thought you'd be like Reno and go ga-ga over her." Isa thought as he looked at his best friend who rolled his eyes at him.

"Gimme a break, Isa." Lea sighed, "There's just something...weird about her."

"I guess you guys are right." Ven agreed.

Mickey frowned and added, "I think she was lyin' about where Aqua is." Then suggested, "Why don't we take the kids back to the academy and then some of us go and follow them?"

Just then, they hear honking. They look out toward the ocean and see Genie racing toward them on a jet ski, with Mushu on his shoulder, clinging on for dear life. They hit a large rock and fly off the jet ski, landing on the beach, thankfully not crashing into the ground.

"Where's Terra?" Genie asked.

"He's headin' back to Destiny Town with that girl to look for Aqua." Goofy told him, pointing at the direction where the very reluctanted Terra is walking with Selene, trying to walk away but he is pulled back with her.

"Well, c'mon!" Mickey told his friends, "We gotta help Terra and find Aqua!"

"I'll stay with the children. You guys go on ahead." Cissnei offered.

"Thanks, Cissnei." Ven smiled.

Soon enough, Cissnei, along with Rude, Cloud, Aerith, Zack, Cloud, Daisy, Arlene(much to her annoyance and pure jealously), Myde, Minnie, and Elena stayed behind to watch over the children, while the rest of the group, getting showered and changed into summer clothes, raced through Destiny Town to find Terra and Aqua, and investigate what Selene was up to.

None of them yet aware of what was actually happening.

* * *

Meanwhile, back underwater, Aqua was fuming, as she and Melody were still trapped. "I will not let that two-faced fish steal Terra!" Aqua was saying, before asking Melody, "Isn't there a way out of this water world?"

"Only if we can get Selene back into the water." Melody said, then had an idea, "Maybe if we're lucky, and if Terra is in town, we can get his attention, and I know how to do that. Follow me." she then led Aqua again as both swam off.

Two minutes later, Armand come to the rock Aqua was just at, having just missed her and Melody. He lifts the rock, where there is a little squid. It spits into his face, and swims off. Blinking for a moment, Armand throws the rock and shakes the ink off, and continues his search.

Aqua and the little Mermaid continued on, and come to openings in the roof of the underwater world and looks out, and gaze at the opening, seeing a familiar town. "Wow! Is that Destiny Town?" Aqua asked, amazed.

"That's right." Melody replied, "Selene gazes at any city in the world."

"This water really is enchanted." Aqua realised. She and Melody then noticed a couple walking past the hole they were peaking through, and, despite Aqua shocked as she realised it was Terra, with Selena, Melody looked closer and blinked.

"Terra...how could you?" Aqua asked, holding back tears.

"Don't be upset." Melody assured, "I think he looks very uncomfortable around her."

Hearing this made Aqua look again and this time, she noticed that Terra did indeed look uncomfortable. In fact, he seemed to be trying to get away from Selene nicely, but instead, she kept pulling him back to her.

Just then, Melody heard something behind them, and gasped as she turned around, before crying out, "Aqua, look out!" and pushed her out of the way just as Armand traps her with his tentacles, holding her tightly.

"Melody!" Aqua cried out, then she had an idea when Armand attacks Melody's hair, and cried out, "Armand, wait, stop! You're messing up her hair!"

Buying it and realising that he is messing with Melody's hair, Armand looks horrified as he slaps two of his tentacles on his face. He lets go of her and begins to try to fix her hair. Seeing the trick, Melody and Aqua both quickly dart off and begin to swim away quickly, and Armand quickly realises he's been had, so he follows them.

Both Aqua and Melody both hide behind a rock, but Armand reaches two of his tentacles around the rock, trying to grab them. The two girls look at each other and nod, grabbing hold a tentacle each and uses the suctions on the tentacles, presses them both together, pinning him to the rock.

"Knock yourself out, big boy." Aqua said sarcastically as she and Melody swim off.

Glaring at them, Armand tries to follow. He does not make it far, though, and the pinned tentacles pull him back, making him crash against the rock, and he sits there dazed, eyes spinning in his head, with a large bump on his head.

"Thanks for helping me out, Aqua." Melody said as she and Aqua continued to swim.

Aqua smiled back, replying, "You saved me. That makes us even."

"Yeah." The mermaid agreed, then said, "Come on, let's save yoru boyfriend."

"Right."

* * *

Back in Destiny Town, Terra was still held by Selene, much to his annoyance. Since arriving in town, she was dragging him all over the place instead of returning to the restort where he should've been looking for Aqua and make up with her for the little squabble back at the beach. Finally, when a vendor offers Selena a fresh fish, causing her to let go of him, Terra took this as his chance to leave, and told her, "Uh, well, Selene, I should be going now."

Just then, "Terra!"

"Aqua?" Terra, hearing his girlfriend's voice, twirled around to find her, but he couldn't see her. "Where are you?" he called out.

Selene, seeing Aqua's face from the water in the barrel, quickly stood in front of it, innocently saying, "I didn't hear anything." while secretly points to the barrel, holes appear on it, spilling all the water out.

"Uh, there's somebody I have to talk you, right now!" Terra said as he moved Selene aside to see Aqua...only to see waterless barrel of dead fish. He couldn't believe his luck.

To add to that bad luck, Selene had her arms on his shoulders, saying, "Talk to me, Ter'." and when Terra tried to dodge out of the way, she grabs him and he sighs in exasperation.

* * *

A bit later, by now Terra was being dragged by Selene all over the town, despite his protests, but she shouldn't listen. As the two walk away from underneath an archway, Ven, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Reno, Isa, Tifa, Mushu and Iago were watching, and only Reno and Iago were smiling at the 'cute' scene below them.

"I really don't like that Selene." Ven grumbled, glaring at the girl below, "Does she think that Terra's the only guy on Earth or something?"

"She seems obbessed with Terra only. I really don't like it." Mickey agreed.

"Relax, guys." Reno told them, "Before you know it, it'll all work out."

Iago nodded in agreement, looking very pleased, "He's right. I mean, look at them! Terra's turning out to be quite a lady-killer!" much to the annoyances of the rest of the group, though Reno smirked at the bird.

"Unless the lady kills him first." Genie pointed out, as he was floating in a meditation style sitting position above Iago. He then drops, still in the meditation position, on top of Iago, causing Donald, Lea, Mushu and Isa to burst into laughter. Ven, Mickey, Goofy and Tifa smirked, pleased that Genie was agreeing with them. Reno looked skeptical, while Iago pulls himself out from under Genie's rear.

"What?" Iago asked.

"Yeah, what're you talkin' about?" Reno added.

"Aha!" Genie grinned, then turned himself into Sherlock Holmes, complete with pipe, peering at the two skeptical members of their group who leaned back slightly, as he says, "It's elemental, my dear redhead and my dear parrot. That is to say, Selene is an elemental, subclass water."

Genie then blows a bubble from the pipe, filled with water, and floats it above Iago's head, adding, "Consider her uncanny ability to manipulate liquid." and pops the bubble on purpose, which the water falls and lands on top of Iago, soaking him wet, and despite his skeptisim, Reno laughed at the sight.

"Ewwwww!" Iago groaned.

"Uncanny ability to manipulate liquid?" Reno asked, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Consider the coincidental timing between Aqua's disappearance and Selene's big entrance." Genie continued, gathering the others around, concluding as he pulls a screen down, with two mug shots of Selene, "She's the number one suspect in...the case of the vanishing student!"

Mickey thought about this, then agreed, "Hmm, you're right, Genie. Let's find out."

* * *

The group secretly followed Selene who was still pulling the reluctanted Terra, before they are seemingly alone around the corner near a well, and she tries to kiss him, but he pulls away. Ven and the others had arrived and were witnessing from a balcony, most of them disgusted at the scene below.

"We don't want to arouse her suspicions yet." Genie whispered.

Reno rolled his eyes and told him, "Come on, if she was supicious, even I would've noticed by now. Part of training of becoming a Turk."

"Seems like your judgement is lacking today, cos'." Lea shrugged, earning a glare from his cousin.

Down below, Selene fingers at Terra's chest, saying, "I am your destiny."

"But I already have a destiny." Terra pointed out.

"That destiny is history." Selene replied, slightly harshly and mentally slapped herself for revealing that details.

"Huh?"

Hearing this, and noticing the tone of voice in Selene's voice, Reno blinked in surprise, and now he was starting to get worried, as was Iago who muttered, "On second thought...that's not a nice tone."

"Uh," Reno began to Genie, hesitatedly, "Let's say you got a point. Is she considered as dangerous?"

Turning back to normal, Genie replied, "Only if Terra really makes her mad."

"Just hope that's not the case." Ven muttered worriedly.

Terra ducked out of the way of Selene, saying, "I'm sorry, Selene, but you're not the one for me. See, I have a girl-Aqua."

"Yes!" Aqua cheered, from a well, with Melody by her side, much to Terra's, and everyone else's surprise, which was extremely weird.

Now that her plan was ruined and that she has to reveal the truth, Selene told Terra, cupping his face in her hands, "She's trapped in the water-dimension. And those long-distance relationships never work!"

"You're the one who trapped her!" Melody accussed to Selene as she and Aqua glared at her.

"You have to release Aqua!" Terra, now realising what has happened, told Selene, adding as he gazed at Aqua, "I love her."

"I love you, Terra." Aqua replied.

Selene shook her head, then told Terra sweetly, "Oh, Terra, maybe for you this is true love, and maybe for me it's all just a cruel game, but you must understand..." before she yells out, "I NEVER LOSE!"

Just then, Reno leaped from the balcony and landed safely on the ground in between the two of them, facing Selene as he stood up, saying as he glared at her, "Maybe you might wanna make a double check on your opponents, sweetheart. Because as I far as I can see, you never faced a real challenge before."

Genie then appeared next to him, as he added to Selene, "The future Turk has a good point! Because obviously you don't realize that you are up against semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers! Now let's see what your little elemental agua powers can do!" cracking his knuckles.

Not even fazed, Selene casually examines her nails, then points. At the well, all the water shoots out at once, and turns into a big watery hand. Now Reno and Genie were getting worried, as they turned their backs to the water hand and back to Selene, sheepishly, while Terra tried to pull Reno away.

"Heh heh, uh..." Reno began, scaredly, "Couldn't we do this the easier and uh, normal way?"

"Yeah, we don't have to get our powers involved in this-omfff!" Genie was cut off as he, and Reno, were both grabbed by the water hand, and lifted into the air. The hand then whirled the two around and around, finally turning into a swirling vortex.

"Reno!" Lea screamed out, horrified on what was happening to his cousin, and made to jump as well, but Isa, Mickey, Tifa and Goofy held him back before he did anything stupid like Reno just did.

"Lea, no! Are you insane?" Isa strained.

"You'll get captured too!" Goofy added.

"Ugh! Lemme go!" Lea cried out as he struggled to free himself, "I gotta save Reno!"

Selene laughs as she points, while Terra watched, horrified.

* * *

Within the well, Reno was struggling to breathe as he and Genie were repeated spinned around, and Aqua and Melody were both underneath it, as the vortex is going faster and faster. The water underneath was still calm.

"Genie!" Aqua cried out as she grabbed hold of Genie's head, which his neck was still going around like a corkscrew. "If it's all a game to her, make her think she's won!" while Melody did her best to keep Reno's oxygen going by giving him some air from her mouth and into his lungs, but it was rather difficult as she tried not to have his body twisted to the point of killing him, as he was just a normal human.

Genie, his eyes also rolling around, pointed out to Aqua, "She hasn't quite lost yet!"

* * *

Back outside, Selene had raised her arm and was now spinning it around, until Terra grabbed her and he yelled at her, "Selene, stop!"

"Yes, dear?" Selene replied, angry as she was forced to lower her arm, which also caused the vortex to finally stop and disappear.

"Reno!" Mickey cried out, as he, Ven, Lea, Isa, and Tifa all raced down to the lower ground, just as Reno resurfaced from the well, gasping for air and talking a large gulp of air. The redhead climbed over the well, leaning against it as he panted, coughing up water out of his lungs, and drenced to the bone, and shivered.

While Terra and Selene glared at each other, Genie, shrinking himself very tiny, appeared next to Terra's ear and whispered, "Okay, Terra. Aqua and the nice mermaid say get her back to the water!" before disappearing, before he appeared next to Ven's ear and whispered, "Okay, Ven. Got a plan to get Aqua back." before disappearing.

"I change my mind." Terra lied, going all the act, and bringing Selene to him, continuing with the act, "You're beautiful. She's cute. You're powerful! She's a prisoner! You are my new destiny."

"What?" Mickey exclaimed, shocked, as Lea, Isa and Tifa pulled Reno out of the water.

Ven, knowing the plan, went along with the act and 'cried' out, "Terra! But why?"

"Yeah!" Genie added as he reappeared in his normal size and was busy squeezing his tail to get rid of the water, "How could you?"

"Hush up and show us some magic," Terra 'told' them, "For me, and my girl."

"WHAT!?" Mickey, Lea, Isa and Tifa all exclaimed in shock, with Reno, who was still shivering, staring in horror.

The jaws of Iago, Mushu, Donald and Goofy all dropped in complete shock(literally dropped to the ground, comically), and disbelief.

"What the hell, man!?" Reno shouted, furious. "I nearly drowned to save your sorry ass, only for you to go and date that lady who almost killed me all of the sudden!?"

"And what about Aqua?" Mickey added, just as angry.

"Eh, yesterday's news." Terra shrugged.

Ven 'couldn't believe' this was happening, then sighed in defeat and muttered to Genie, "Genie...I think we have no choice but to accept this."

In response, Genie 'bursted' into hysterical tears, sobbing as he replied to Ven, "If that's what you wish, Mister Master." before he disappears and then reappears, dressed in a uniform. He makes the red Carpet appear, with Mushu dressed as a chauffeur, sitting at the front.

"What?" Mushu muttered, shocked.

"A genie that tows the line! That's what I like to see." Selene smirked as she steps onto the carpet, with Genie's help.

"I live to serve." Genie replied, and when Selene looked away, he makes a horrible face, with tongue sticking out, one eyeball bulging, and when she turns again, is back to his normal face with a big grin.

"Why you son of a-!" Lea growled and attempted to get to Selene, but Tifa grabs him roughly by the arms.

"Driver, take us to that romantic little sea-side café." Terra quested to Mushu.

Grimcing, Mushu, like he was driving the car, takes the wheel, shifts, and steps on the gas. Then Carpet shoots off with the sound of squealing tires, and all three of them fly off.

"Drive carefully." Genie muttered, before breaking down again.

"What are you doing!?" Donald cried out, astonished.

"It's all going to plan." Ven smirked, "All we gotta do now is catch Selene right into our trap." grinning, which the others, except for Genie who was also grinning, stared at him, now confused and shocked.

"Huh?" Mickey blinked, confused.

"Wait a minute." Isa muttered, "Are you saying that you, Genie and even Terra made all that stuff up to trick Selene?" quirking an eyebrow.

"And you knew, how?" Reno asked supiciously to Genie, resisting the urge to sneeze, thankful that the afternoon sun was drying him off from the cold water.

Genie nodded, saying, "The best actor nomination! The tears cinch it!"

"Reno, Tifa," Ven began, "You guys head back to the hotel and tell Zack and the others, and then call the Turks in case we need extra help. The rest of us are gonna head back to the beach."

* * *

Once Ven and Genie told their friends the plan which Terra also knows about, the group set into motion. Reno and Tifa headed back to the resort for both Reno to take a nice hot shower and a change of clothes before he would call the Turks for back up and to tell the rest of their friends on what was going on, while Ven, Mickey, Lea, Donald, Isa, Goofy, Iago and Genie headed back to the beach.

Thankfully, they picked an empty area, which Genie made duplicates of himself which they went straight to work to built a new(and fake) resturant above the water which was deep, and were making some progress, until they took a break.

Iago flew up to see if Terra and Selene were any closer, and to his horror, sees the red carpet flying over the trees. Screaming, he dive-bombs back down to the others and reaches Genie, and yanking his beard to stop himself, jumps onto Genie's shoulder. "They're almost here!" much to their horror.

"Any time now fellas...!" Mickey said to the four genies worriedly.

The second Genie heard his watch go off, and muttered to the other three genies, "Yeeeeeep, it's time." and soon all four of them jump right back to work, sawing, and hammering, nailing, flinging lumber around. A building is definitely forming on top of the scaffolding.

"Whoa! Look at them go!" Lea exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah!" Donald agreed.

But Iago was scornful, as he said, "I don't care how fast they are, they'll never do it in time!" as he crosses his wings and looks away. Another Genie's hand reaches out and grabs Iago, who looks terrified, and uses him as a whistle. When they were finished, the three genies are standing on the roof of the building. They grin and disappear one at a time.

Now it was time for the big opening.

* * *

Inside the building, things were starting up on the act, as Mickey, Ven, Lea, Isa, and Donald pretended to be costumers, Genie pretending to be a woman, Iago was dressed in a little pirate's hat and eye patch, with a stripped shirt, standing on a stool reading out of a large book on a podium, like a host in a restaurant. Terra and Selene stood in front of him.

"Ahoy and welcome to Cap'n Sparrow's Swillery!" Iago greeted in a pirate tone.

"Table for two please." Terra requested with a wink.

"Did you make a reservation? Cuz I'm telling ya, it's been crazy tonight!" Iago replied, as Terra and Selene looked around, and only see comfortable costumers chatting away, and a lady staring out at the sea, while Iago continued, "Wellll, maybe I can fit you in, for, *cough*, ahem, a small gratuity!"

Just then, Goofy, dressed as a sailor-waiter, appeared, saying happily, "Hi-ya! Ah-yhuck! Let's get you a table! Name's Goofy and I'll be your waiter!" as he escorted the two to a table, placing menus in their hands, while pulling out a pencil and a note, saying, "Now, want kind of specials would you kids want?"

"Hmmm..." Selene thought, gazing at the menu, not really able to make up her mind. "I don't know." she then shrugged and just said, "Surprise me."

Just then, as if on cue, a trap door opened underneath her and Selene, screaming, fell like a bomb straight down and landed into the water with a large splash. Terra, Goofy, Ven, Iago, Genie, Mushu, Mickey, Donald, Lea and Isa all peered through the trap door at her, all grinning and all said in unison with cheeky tones, "Surprise!"

Despite that she was admittedly impressed by this trick, Selene, resurfacing, growls, "I should've known-AH!" only to be cut off when something pulls her back underwater, and in her place, Aqua, gasping for air, and Melody both surface, finally free.

"Yes!" Aqua cheered.

Then, Terra and Ven arrive on the red carpet, as Ven cried out, "It worked! Hang on, Aqua!"

"Go Ven! Go Terra!" Lea cheered.

The two boys scooped Aqua and accidently Melody as well, who surprisingly to the two, pulled out a locket in a shape of a clam and her fins suddenly turned into a pair of legs with a pair of pants that matched her tank top.

"Land dwellers never play fair!" Selene screamed, back in her true form and dived back into the water.

"Wow! You can turn into a mermaid and a human?" Ven asked to Melody who nodded.

"Always been my skill." The young girl shrugged. "I'm Melody."

"I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven." Ven replied.

"Aqua, she-uh, I, uh." Terra began, but Aqua gently shushes him, and she replied, "No one will never come between us, Terra."

Just then, all four of them heard something behind them and to their horror, a gigantic wave is now following them, and it was looming over them. The boys held the girls close to them, as Terra told his friends, "Hold your breath!"

The wave also comsumes the building which Mickey and the rest of the group try to escape from, but they were all engulfed by the water and pulled into the water. Most of them surface, and Mickey, Donald, Mushu, and Iago were on the red carpet who was floating on the water, coughing.

"Where're Genie, Lea, Isa and Goofy?" Ven asked.

Armand then surfaces, and has the said four in his tentacles, as they try to escape, while Lea cried out, "Let go of me, you oversized squid!"

"Ow! Let go, you stupid fish!" Isa shouted.

"Hey! What'dya think you're doing?" Goofy cried out, then yelled, "Put me down!"

"SOS! SOS!" Genie is crying out as he tries to escape, but is hit back into the water by Armand, who then responds by grabbing Ven, Mickey, Donald, Mushu, and Iago, and forcing Aqua and Melody, who quickly turned back into her mermaid form, back underwater.

Terra is then faced by Selene who is balanced on top of a huge water spout.

"Oh Terra!" Selene greeted, as she blows a kiss, adding, "Wet kiss!" and Terra tries to swim away, but he is surrounded by magic which turns into a whirlpool which sucks him slowly underwater.

Aqua and Melody both resurface and see Terra in trouble. Aqua cries out to the red carpet who tries to reach her, but Armand also grabs it and then he begins to spin them like on a very large and fast merry-go-round, as all of them were screaming out, as Selene is surveying all of this.

"Nobody dumps me! Nobody!" Selene screechs in anger, in which Terra is completely pulled underwater.

Armand then begins to squeeze the group, but Donald, now losing his temper, manages to pull his arms out and pulls half-giant fly swapper out of nowhere and begins to smack Armand upside on the head, back and fourth several times as he yells at it, "Why, you, over-sized, piece of sushi!" continuing his assult on the octopus.

Mickey, also managing to get his arms free, pulls out the red carpet from another tentacle which it, since it's wet, twists himself up and Mickey then whacks very hard on Armand's sore head, causing the octopus to release his hold on all of them. They go all flying towards the water, but quickly, a speed boat, which was carrying the rest of their friends, including headmaster Eraqus, and the Turks, Tseng and Balto who was driving, came parrelling down.

"Hang on, guys! Calvery has arrived!" Zack called out, and just in time, Mickey and most of the others crash landed into the boat, and unfortunately, landing on top of Tseng, Reno, Rude, Zack and Cloud, and accidently soaking them a bit and causing them to fall onto the boat's floor.

"Fellas!" Mickey cried out, surprised.

"Like Zack said..." Reno groaned, "Calvery has arrived." as Lea was lying on top of his chest, before groaning at his cousin, "Haven't I had enough of almost getting killed today?"

Ven, unfortunately, landed back into the water, but he resurfaced, and saw Aqua and Melody, back in her human form, hold out a net near the shore and he swam towards them to help them.

Genie in the meantime, floated above Armand, and said to him, "Ok, Mr. Touchy-Feely! Let's arm wrestle!" as he grows four more arms and reaches into the water for Armand, who is suddenly looking very worried, and then grabs him.

Underwater, Terra, who is trying to hold his breath, was pulled at the bottom of the ocean floor, while Selene swims around him, saying, "Welcome to my world, sweetheart! And your precious Aqua is next!" as she quickly makes for the surface to catch Aqua as well.

"No way, Selene!" Ven cried out as he, Melody and Aqua are holding onto the net, "Your turn now!" and then all three of them net Selene who just surfaced and catch her. Selene begins to struggle and thrash around in the net, but Ven, Melody and Aqua all had a firm grip on it, and begin to try to haul it to shore over their shoulders. Selene has lost her grip on the whirlpool though, which disappears, and Terra, freed, swims to the surface.

Terra reached and gasped for air, then saw what his friends were doing, and cried out, "Aqua! Ven!" and begins to swim to help his friends.

"Let me go!" Selene cried out.

"Not in a million years!" Melody growled.

Terra just made it waist deep, and began to say, "Aq-Whoaaaaa!" only to have Selene's tail smack him in the face, throwing him off.

"Terra!" Aqua and Ven both cried out, while Melody cringed in sympathy.

"Ouch." Melody muttered.

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the group and the Turks were back on shore, with Reno telling Tseng, "See, I told you it wasn't a joke!" while the others were drying themselves off, wondering where Terra, Ven and Aqua were.

"I never said I didn't believe you, Reno. I just found the story itself unbelievable." The Wutaiian replied, resisting the urge to sigh in exasperation.

* * *

In the water, Selene's struggles get violent, and after a bit more thrashing about, she starts to swim off, in the net, with Terra, Aqua, Ven and Melody holding on for the ride out to sea.

"Genie!" Ven cried out, soon finding himself and his friends and Melody water skiing-they are standing on their feet, but holding onto the net with Selene as she tries to escape them.

"Hold on!" Terra cried out.

"We're trying!" Aqua and Melody both exclaimed.

"GENIE!" Ven shouted this time.

This got everyone's attentions on shore and all turned to see what was happening, just as Genie asked, "Ven?" and zooms to him in high-speed, causing Tseng to cringe a little.

Ven and three of his friends in the meantime were halfway back into the water now, still clutching the net. Selene is leaping out of the water, trying to shake them. She finally jumps high enough so that when she splashes back down, Ven, Aqua, Terra and Melody knock heads, letting go of the net and falling back into the water.

Selene then threw off the net off her, as she told the four, "You will seriously regret this indignity! You-whoa?" she was cut off as all of the sudden, Genie, having turned into a submarine, surfaced, with a huge grin on his face. She is perched on his turret. The periscope comes up next to her, changes into a hand, and grasps her. The hand throws her into an open door on the floor of the sub. A cannon hole opens in the front of the sub.

"Fire one!" Genie called out, and he, along with Terra, Ven, Aqua and Melody, all covered their ears as Selene shoots out the hole, skipping across the surface of the ocean on out of sight, screaming into the sunset, and defeated, out of sight.

* * *

In the aftermath, everyone, now safe and back on shore, was doing their best to dry off as they all returned to the restort, with Melody, back in her human form, squeezing out water from their clothes, except Mushu who was using a small towel to dry his scales.

Mickey was sneezing, while Goofy and Donald squeezed water from their hats. Suddenly, all three of them were almost knocked over when a hair drier appears on Genie's hand, drying them off.

"With your features, you could really carry this look." Genie said, as he combs out Donald's feathers, but to his dismay, Donald's feathers all came out all big and puffy.

"Ooooh!" Donald grumbled, "This is exasperating."

"Oh, Genie." Mickey scolded, also not impressed.

Iago then flew over to Genie, grumbling, "Can't you style Quacken-Poker later so we can get out of here!"

"Hmmmmmm?" Genie asked, and as he turned, directing the drier straight at Iago, which blows him right out of sight on the other side of the rocks from the resort balcony, while Iago screams, "WAAAAAAAAAA!" and ends up landing back into the water. This was seen by the Turks, Reno, Rude, Lea, Isa, Zack, Cloud, and pretty much everyone else who all bursted into laughter at Iago's situation. Mickey, Goofy and even Donald all bursted out laughing as well. Myde collasped onto the floor in hysterical laughter.

"There goes your three o'clock." Cloud joked with a smirk.

"Hey, Aqua! I just had a cancellation." Genie called up to Aqua who was with Terra, Ven and Melody.

"Forget it, Genie." Terra waved off, adding, "She's just perfect the way she is."

Despite Aqua's messy appearence, she smiled, and she and Terra snuggle against each other.

Ven and Melody smile, and laugh. "Hey, Melody. Thanks for helping out Aqua."

"Not a problem. Glad I could help." Melody replied. "I'm just glad to have made friends."

"Hey, why don't you come with us to Radiant Academy, if you want to?" Ven offered.

Surprised, Melody then really thought about it, then nodded, "If you guys don't mind. I don't have any family anyway."

Thankfully, deciding to keep her magical abilities a secret, everyone on the balcony and the children all welcomed Melody into the group, and when Eraqus and the Students returned to Radient City, Melody was welcomed as a new student of Radiant Academy.

And that merpeople still existed after all was also pretty cool too, especially if you had one as a student and a friend.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Whoa! Now this has to be one of my longest chapters in any of my stories! On top of that, Melody from the Little Mermaid 2 has joined the cast of our heroes! Since I noticed the lack of spotlight on Terra and Aqua, I've decided to base this episode from the TV series of Aladdin on them to first test their relationship.**

 **Please continue your reviews, fellow readers and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	4. Episode 4: A Student in a Gilded Cage-P1

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: This next episode is both based on another Disney TV show I watched as a kid and an old song, "A Bird in a Gilded Cage".**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 4: A Student in a Gilded Cage-P1.

The forests outside of Radiant City was spetacular today and it was a nice day. However, as a bird flew, a shadow loomed over it, and when it looked up, it squaked in fear and flew off into another direction, as Isa, no wings or anything, was gliding through the air...until he came across a large flock of birds which made him panic and lose course and ability to fly. In this panic and screaming, Isa fell towards the ground and...

* * *

THUMP!

Isa landed face first on the floor in the stage room of Radiant Academy, having fallen off his chair. The noise of him collasping onto the floor caused the others in the room, the music teacher Miss Edea, Melody the newest student since the Selene incident at Destiny Town, Myde, and finally, Selphie who was singing on stage, but she stopped in shock as she and everyone else gazed at the blue-haired teen who jolted up to his hands and knees, looking a bit dazed as he had woken up from a dream.

A terrible dream, he realised. Shaking away the last of sleep and new fear growing inside him, and remembering where he was, Isa stood up, apologetically telling Selphie, "Sorry, Selphie! I uh, I gotta go!" and ran out of the room, everyone else watching him.

"Miss Edea, was I that bad?" Selphie asked, worrying if her singing made Isa run out of the room.

"Of course not, child, your singing is beautiful." Edea assured, "That young man just slept through it."

"Why was he tired in the first place?" Melody asked, curiously.

Myde, knowing why Isa was tired, answered, "Isa's been training with Lea, and helping him and some of the others on the flying skills to fly helicopters for Turks while making a new air-plane-dirigible airship or whatever it's called by Teacher Pilot Cid Highwind, day and night. He's just exhausted." shrugging.

* * *

"I don't understand why flying makes things easier for travel." Isa was saying to himself as he made his way to where he knew his best friend and other friends were. "Flying is dangerous. How can Genie and Iago stand that, being who they are?"

He found Lea, Reno, Rude, Ven, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Cid Highwind(ShinRa's airship pilot and engineer, as well as being the teaching of flying skills of the Academy), Iago, Mushu and Genie at the flying skills garage which was also connected to the school's simulation room. Once he arrived in the room, Isa wasted no time in grabbing hold an wrench tool, proclaiming, "Flying is forbidden!" with a crazy look in his eyes.

Hearing his exclaim, the rest of the group saw what Isa is about to do, and while Genie snatched the tool from the teen, Mickey asked, "Isa, what're you doin'?"

"Simple; This machine is dangerous, because flying is dangeorus." Isa stated, with a crazy berserk look that made Lea think of Arlene. "I refuse to work on this thing."

"It's an airship and we'll be able to fly it soon." Ven pointed out.

"Forget it. It's bad enough that birds and Genie are can fly." Isa grumbled.

"Are you okay, man?" Lea blinked at his best friend, "You look like Arlene whenever she's loses her temper really quickly."

The blue-haired teen shortly replied, "Yes, I'm fine. Boats, trains and walking is better for the human health. I mean, everybody can handle that, right?"

"...Who are you and what have you done to Isa?" Lea asked, supiciously.

"Wait a minute." Mushu muttered, "Now all of the sudden you don't want to fly? Since when did you develop acrophobia?" the small dragon never thought the blue-haired teen would suddenly be afraid of flying.

"Yeah, you were fine on airplanes, helicopters, magic carpets, Pegasus," Genie counted, before realising what he said on the last part and quickly remembered, "Oh wait, that was Hercules."

Isa just shrugged, "Yeah, well, think about all the crash landings that would happen."

"This is why I always knew that birds are the only species on Earth that were meant to fly. Nobody else. Period! The end." Iago agreed whole heartedly.

"Who asked you, polly?" Cid grumbled as he fixed a few things up while he was listening to the conversation. "People wanted to fly for years, and plus, as you know, flying is faster."

"Yo, Highwind. I finished fixing up the fuel for the Mini-Airship." Reno spoke up as he came around the corner of the rather large vessel. With a grin, he added, "And get this, I found a perfect fuel for this baby too." holding up a bottled jar of...coloured berries?

"Berries?" Donald snickered, before he and Iago both bursted into hysterical laughter.

"Uh, Reno. How can berries be fuel?" Mickey asked, as he and everyone else quirked eyebrows.

"Allow me to show you." Reno grinned. He allowed Ven, Lea and Mickey to follow him to the near engine part up on the ladder ramp very close to the vessel, where the fuel gage is. Cid, shrugging, went to the steering room of the vessel, and after Reno squashed the berries with a mini masher Mickey suspected came from the kitchen of the school, and then poured the liquid into the fuel gage. After signaling Cid to turn it on, the pilot shrugged, and turned the key. To his and everyone else's surprise, it turned on, and the rest of the group were briefly blown away. In Iago's case, he was flown right into the wall due to being a bird. It then shut off once the fuel as dry.

"Wow!" Ven cried out, stunned. "Now can we fly the airship!"

"Now that's pretty awesome!" Lea said happily.

"Great!" Mickey cheered, "Reno, where did you find those berries?"

The redhead shrugged, saying, "I found them on high sale this morning and brought some home. I tested it out to make an awesome new juice, when I kinda accidently spilled some into here, but it didn't blow up."

Even Cid was impressed as he walked around to join up the students and said, "Well, dang it. Kid, you just got yourself an A+Plus for findin' the fuel. Now then, let's go and get the rest of this berry stuff!"

"Sweet." Reno grinned.

"Or sour." Iago groaned, before sliding off the wall and landed on the ground with a thud. Isa shivered.

The bluehead knew what was coming, and he was determined to not fly again for as long as he lived.

* * *

As soon as word that coloured berries were the perfect fuel for Cid's new airship, the students wasted no time in buying as many as they could effort. Selphie, who loved flying, was really excited about Cid's new aircraft. As she was buying the berries from the fruit stand, she was mindabsently singing, and was even making up her own lyrics.

" _~Come fly with me, there is so much to see,_

 _Even from the start, the sky is in our hearts,_

 _Gaze at the Sun and Moon, I wish it wouldn't end so soon,_

 _Come fly with me, there is so much to see.~_ " Selphie sang, though she was unaware that fairly large birds were watching her and the others, until Miss Dona called her and Goofy.

These black birds were huge, as they watched from a building. One was whispering to the other, "She is the one. We must take her to our king."

"When?" the companion whispered back.

"Soon." the first answered back.

* * *

In a cave in a very high and uninhabited mountain, the two birds arrived and reported to their 'king' who asked them, "Where is this song bird you found?"

"She is very close, sire." One of the birds replied, "We will retrieve her very soon."

"Soon is not good enough." The king grunted, pointing at the giant cage that hanged from the ceiling next to him, commanding them, "I want her in that cage, by morning."

* * *

By morning at the Academy, the students were collecting the last of berries they could afford. Only Isa wasn't helping, because he refused point blank. He even refused to listen to Mushu who stated that he flew on a kite back in Ancient China.

"Still got Acrophobia?" Lea asked as he approached his best friend, hands behind his head.

"I just don't like the idea of crashing." Isa grumbled.

The redhead rolled his eyes, pointing out, "Seriously, man. You were okay when we flew on carpet, airplanes and helicopters lots of times. Why all of the sudden not flying anymore?"

The blue-head made to respond, then reconsidered and looked around, making sure they were alone, and then leaned in closer to whisper in Lea's ear, and reluctantedly told him of the dream he had after he'd fallen asleep during Selphie's rehursle, exhausted from the project of the airship. When he finished and leaned back, Lea was having trouble trying not to laugh.

"It's not funny." Isa groaned, knowing that he was pushing his luck.

"Sorry." Lea snickered, "It's just, that dream has gotta be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Besides, everybody knows that the story of Peter Pan is just a fairytale, people flying and all that. The only real way to do it is airplanes, and all that, and Genie and magic carpets. There's no way in a million years that people would fly, unless you sprout out wings."

Isa looked at Lea with a deadpanned look, asking, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Look, man." Lea began, "Sure people can't help in being afraid of something, and yeah, any kind of phobia sucks, but there is one thing most people including me know. If anything bad happens to either friends or families, or just other people that are in trouble in general, you have to get over your fear if you wanna do you best to save them, or that's the end, period."

The two stared at each other for a few moments, until Isa asked, admittedly surprised, "Since when did you get so wise?"

Lea laughed, "The crazy adventures last year and this year, and training to become a Turk kinda taught me that. Besides, Reno would say that same thing to Rude."

"I guess you're right." Isa sighed. But that didn't mean he like flying.

* * *

Meanwhile, Goofy and Selphie were last two students to collect the berries, and the latter was telling her friend about the new song she made, "I just made up the song because I'm so excited to fly in Cid's new airship."

"Gawrsh, sounds like you wanna be a lotta things, Selphie." Goofy thought, smiling.

The girl in the brown hair and yellow dress smiled, saying, "You're not too far off. I wanna be a SeeD, a singer, a movie star, and a director for song concerts. Oh yeah, and I wanna be a dress designer too." as she made to pick up another basket full of the coloured berries.

However, the two birds, now seen as half-giant mutant vultures, but with wings on their backs, and claw-like hands, swooped down and one of them suddenly grabbed Selphie around her waist and lifted her up the air and flew off, causing her to scream when she felt them grab her.

"Goofy! Help!" Selphie screamed, alarming her friend who saw this and he gasped in horror, as she continued to scream, "Help! Goofy!"

"Gawrsh!" Goofy cried out, before he rushed to try and catch up, calling out, "Hold on, Selphie! I'll save ya!" and thankfully, the birds weren't high enough yet and he tried to jump, managing to grab the bird's foot, and his extra weight caused it to descend painfully, while he yelled, "Hey! Put her down, you mean bird!"

All three crashed, with Selphie being released, while the two birds crashed into each other. Goofy quickly held her by the hand and both made a run for it, while citizens also run out of the way from the birds and avoiding collision with the two students. But the birds were fast and smashed into the two students who fell onto the ground. One of the birds then picked up the fallen Selphie again and took off. Goofy then quickly got up and tried again to stop the birds.

But unfortunately, Goofy was too low this time as he only managed to pull off one of the feathers, causing the bird to shriek in pain, while he and his companion fly away, with Selphie captive, much to Goofy's dismay as he cried out, "No!"

"Goofy! Help!" Selphie screamed, then yelled at the bird, "Let go of me, you nasty bird!"

Selphie had been kidnapped, and Goofy knew there was only one way to save her.

* * *

When Goofy returned to tell everyone at the Academy the devestating news, the headmasters called the Turks for the emergancy, while Mushu poured the berry fuel into the airship as he listened in the conversation. Tseng and Balto were intergrotting Goofy who told them the incident.

"...And they had feathers like these." Goofy continued, showing the Turks the feathers he still held in his hand, showing off the black feathers.

Tseng's forehead creased as he frowned, before further questioning, "They wouldn't happen to have claws too, yes?"

"Yeah! Big ugly ones." Goofy added.

"What kind of bird would be like that?" Terra thought, arms crossed in worry and concern.

Ven then asked to Genie, "Hey, Genie, do you know about these birds?"

In response, Genie magically made a book titled, "The history of mythical birds" appear, saying, "Let's see what the mythical birds book says." and flipped through the pages, mumbling about Helmaroc King(though that was from the Legend of Zelda games), Chocobos(even though those were real and the kind of birds Reno hates the most), Cuccos(again, from the Zelda games), until finally, he fround what he was looking for, and found the page which had a picture with the same two birds Goofy had seen. "Here it is!"

"That's them!" Goofy pointed.

"Ugh." Iago groaned in disgust, "And I thought Malcho was bad enough, but these guys are completely worse. I can just tell by just looking at them." as he rested on Ven's left shoulder.

"Yeah, they look pretty ugly and nasty." Reno agreed, and his best friend nodded in silent agreement.

"What are they?" Minnie asked.

"Carpies-A mysterious and dangerous breed of bird-like creatures." Genie read outloud.

"Yes, though it was originally believed they were nothing but myths, until now." Tseng stated, "There were legends that these things demolished Wutai around hundreds of years ago, as they are said to have searched for a human that held singing abilities that would attract them for life-a Song Bird as they would call the singers. Techically, women are the most common victums."

"So that's why Selphie was taken, because she was one of the best singers in the Academy." Squall realised, grunting in anger, "I can't forgive those monsters for kidnapping her."

Goofy, feeling guilty in failing to save Selphie, muttered, "I'm really sorry, fellars. I tried to save her. Honest."

"Aw, we know, Goofy." Mickey assured his friend to try and comfort him. "It wasn't your fault, ya' know."

"Where can we find those Carpies things?" Zack asked.

Genie read through the book again, reading outloud, "They live in the uninhabited mountain-" gasping and concluded, "The highest mountain in this entire region!"

"So the only way to get there is to fly." Reno realised, "Good thing helicopters and Cid's new airship are on top of the good luck list."

Isa surpressed a groan, not looking forward to this.

"I'm afraid only an airship can handle the high tempretures of that kind of mountain, as it would damange the helicopter." Balto stated, and Tseng nodded in agreement.

Tseng then gazed at Cid and requested, "Cid, we would like to request the use of your airship."

The gruffy pilot shrugged, "Fine by me. I was gonna test this baby anyway. Gotta need help with this, though."

While they were talking, Ven, feeling that the Turks wouldn't let him or some of his friends join them to save Selphie, along with Lea and Mickey, snuck onboard, as Cid also boarded to get ready. As the pilot turned it on now that they had enough fuel, everyone else were working on releasing it by the ropes, though Isa was mentally glad that he stayed behind.

"Please save young Selphie." Ansem told Tseng.

"You have my word, Headmaster." Tseng promised.

However, as Cid came back out and was requesting who would go with him and the Turks, inside, as Ven, Lea and Mickey were looking around, Lea accidently leaned onto the lever which would push the airship into gear, until he realised it and gasped. The three students gasped in horror, and the other two glared at Lea who cringed sheepishly.

Outside, Zack then noticed it move and cried out, "Wha!? It's moving!" which alarmed everyone, and all realised, with the absence of Ven, Lea and Mickey, all quickly run to try and catch it. Tseng and Cid both managed to grab onto the ladder and railing just in time. Isa and Donald both stepped back a little, but both stepped onto the loops of the ropes, and where both alarmingly tied up and being carried away by the aircraft.

Iago was walking away as another rope was drifting away, "For once, I don't have to go with on an crazy-AWK!" until stepped into the loop and was tied up quickly, and also carried away, screaming.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Melody cried out, "Come back!"

"Ven!" Aqua and Terra cried out.

"Lea! Isa!" Reno cried out.

"Mickey!" Minnie cried out.

"Donald!" Daisy cried out.

"Come back!" Zack called out.

"We wanna go too!" Goofy stupidly said.

Genie attempted to follow but he accidently knocked into a cabinet, and a metal bucket fell off from the top of it and hits him on the head, causing him to be seeing stars and then collasped to the ground, on top of Mushu who cried out.

* * *

Inside the cockpit, Lea was panicking, as he cried out, "What do I do!?" trying to figure out the controls of the airship, with two levers and a steering wheel.

Mickey thankfully found the manual and panically told his friend, "Pull the lever on the left!"

But Lea pulled the right one, which caused it to turn around, which he then tried to steer it with the steering wheel, as Ven cried out, "No, Lea! The left one! Not the right one!"

While Tseng and Cid both tried to get inside the airship, Isa, Donald and Iago were all screaming as they continuously pulled and dragged dangerously behind the airship. Ven then tried to help Lea and both moved the lever forward, though ti descended to the ground, so they both pulled it up again, and it flew higher into the air, and they and Mickey all sighed in relief, before he looked around of the sphere window.

"Wow!" Mickey cried out, amazed, "This is more amazing than being in a helicopter or airplane! We're even higher than Genie's magic carpet would take us!"

Ven and Lea looked and both were quite stunned as well and looked at each other, with a nod.

Outside, Tseng and Cid both climbed onto the platform outside, but then noticed the dragged trio which Iago, seeing the two men, shouted, "Don't just stand there! Pull us up!" and he, along with Isa and Donald who looked green in the face, were pulled up.

But then Isa noticed something, and cried out in horror, "Incoming!"

Thankfully, the three boys inside the cockpit also noticed, and Lea and Ven both pulled another lever back, which thankfully had the airship go over, narrowly missing a snow short mountain, though Iago, Isa and Donald hit the snow which covered them while they pulled up to the deck by Tseng and Cid who pulled them to safety and untied the ropes off them, wiping the snow off them.

"Are you three alright?" Tseng asked.

"Y-yeah. Just a little cold, but alive." Isa replied, shivering.

"How the hell did ya three ended up there?" Cid asked.

"We were tied up." Donald replied.

Shortly after, the five of them arrived in the cockpit via Cid's directions, and found Ven, Lea and Mickey who saw them and were shocked to see them, before they looked at each other nervously, especially seeing the angry looks on Tseng and Cid's faces. They were in for a lecture.

"Care to explain the mishaps?" Tseng questioned.

"Well...we knew that you wouldn't let us come with you to save Selphie, so we had to sneak on board." Ven explained.

"It was pretty much my fault that I made the airship move." Lea quickly added, "I was leaning against the lever and it took off."

"We're really sorry, Tseng." Mickey concluded.

Despite the disappointments, the three students did apologuise and were guilty for their actions, plus nothing can be done now to send them home until they rescued Selphie. Cid the sighed and said, "Yer lucky that ya's didn't crash it."

"Yeah, but you nearly had the three of US killed!" Iago yelled out, before Donald grabbed him roughly and held his beak closed to shut him up.

Isa was glaring at Lea who noticed his friend looked a little frozen, and the redhead shrugged guiltly, "Sorry, man. I didn't know I nearly killed you and the others."

Sighing, as he knew that Lea had no intentions to kill him, Isa muttered, "It's okay. You owe me one, though."

"Yeah." Lea nodded.

"Alright then," Tseng spoke up, "We should be arriving at our destination to rescue Selphie. So, we have to make careful haste."

"Alrighty! Let's blow this popcicle stand!" Cid declaredly, only to own a groan from the students at his comment.

"You try being turned into a popcicle." Donald grumbled.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the cave, Selphie was locked up in the cage, and terrified out of her mind, having been forced to sing for these weird bird thingies, Carpies, including their King who had a crown and a scepter like back in the medievel times.

"We found the perfect song bird either, your majesty." One of the Carpies said.

King Carpie thought about this, and muttered, "Hmm, perhaps, and perhaps not." knocking the cage which caused it to swing a little, and Selphie nearly lost her balance if she wasn't clinging onto the bars of the cage she was trapped in.

"Um, your majesty," Selphie began nervously, "I-I'm really glad you like my singing. But um, if I get tired, when can I go home?"

"Never!" King Carpie bellowed, then smiled evilly, as he told his new precious 'possesen', "You belong to me now, Song Bird." and laughed.

Shocked, Selphie pointed out, trying to act brave, "Listen! There are people called the Turks who do all sorts of things, and they'll be here any minute-"

"Yes, the human race who would had came all the way up to see you, we'll just show them back the way down." King Carpie grinned, then commanded while knocking the scepter into the cage, causing to swing again, "Now sing!"

Terrified, Selphie shakingly sang the song she made up earlier at the academy, devastated that she would be trapped here for the rest of her life, not even SOLDIER, or Turks, or even Ven's Genie can save her.

Though she was unaware that she would be saved.

* * *

Nearly there at their destination, Ven and his travelling group in Cid's airship were edging closer and closer, as the sun began to set into early evening. They were busy planning on how to save Selphie. As usual, Iago was complaining.

"How much further is it to the stupid mountain?" Iago groaned loudly.

"Iago, would be be quiet?" Mickey asked, getting very annoyed. "You've asked that for the last ten minutes." as he could also tell that Tseng was feeling a headache coming on, and Cid was groaning in sheer annoyance at the loud parrot.

"Look!" Donald cried out, "There it is!" causing his friends, Cid and the Turk to look ahead of them as Cid was at the steering wheel now. In front of them, was the mountain they saw in the book Genie showed them, but it was still amazing to see.

"Wow!" Ven gapped, "No wonder helicopters couldn't make it up this high!"

"Tell me about it." Lea muttered, stunned in awe, "This is the highest mountain I've ever seen in my entire life!"

"Okay, so this thing was a good idea after all." Isa sighed, but before he could say anything else, suddenly the airship jerked, alarming him and everyone else.

"Aw, crud. Better check the fuel gage." Cid grumbled, fiddling with a few controls to see how much fuel there was left. For a moment, it looked like there was still plenty, but then as he looked, it suddenly went down to empty. "What the!?"

"What's wrong?" Tseng asked, as the airship flew into the clouds, coming out of it.

But then everyone noticed as they looked, they suddenly felt they weren't alone. "What's going on?" Donald asked.

"There's somethin' screwy..." Mickey began.

"It's not screwy..." Iago shivered in terror, as he gazed at the side of the window, then exclaimed, "It's ugly foes!" causing everyone else to look and to their horror, the Carpies, from the looks of it, several of them, had surrounded the aircraft, and they were left powerless as the birds began to tear the ship apart.

Being rolled all over the place due to losing power as the alarm went off, while Cid cried out in anger, "Hey! My students and I worked hard on this model, you damn giant feather things!"

At last, Ven and everyone else were left unable to do anything as the Carpies pulled the last of the support of the airship and watched it fall and descend to it's doom. The Carpies all laughed evilly and congratulated each other for their good work for seemingly finishing off the mere land dwellers, while the group hanged on for dear life for impact as they plummeted down, bracing themselves for a crash landing.

All of them were screaming as they were descending to what they thought was their doom.

TO BE CONTINUED!

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger, but I'm making this a two-parter, and don't worry, the second part will come sooner than you think. In fact, I'm working on it right now.**

 **Please continue your reviews, fellow readers, and I'll see you next time.**


	5. Episode 5: A Student in a Gilded Cage-P2

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Here's part two, just as I promised. Sorry for the tension, but here we go.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 5: A Student in a Gilded Cage-P2.

 _Previously, on Life DEFINTATELY not Normal..._

 _"Aw, crud. Better check the fuel gage." Cid grumbled, fiddling with a few controls to see how much fuel there was left. For a moment, it looked like there was still plenty, but then as he looked, it suddenly went down to empty. "What the!?"_

 _"What's wrong?" Tseng asked, as the airship flew into the clouds, coming out of it._

 _But then everyone noticed as they looked, they suddenly felt they weren't alone. "What's going on?" Donald asked._

 _"There's somethin' screwy..." Mickey began._

 _"It's not screwy..." Iago shivered in terror, as he gazed at the side of the window, then exclaimed, "It's ugly foes!" causing everyone else to look and to their horror, the Carpies, from the looks of it, several of them, had surrounded the aircraft, and they were left powerless as the birds began to tear the ship apart._

 _Being rolled all over the place due to losing power as the alarm went off, while Cid cried out in anger, "Hey! My students and I worked hard on this model, you damn giant feather things!"_

 _At last, Ven and everyone else were left unable to do anything as the Carpies pulled the last of the support of the airship and watched it fall and descend to it's doom. The Carpies all laughed evilly and congratulated each other for their good work for seemingly finishing off the mere land dwellers, while the group hanged on for dear life for impact as they plummeted down, bracing themselves for a crash landing._

 _All of them were screaming as they were descending to what they thought was their doom._

* * *

What seemed like forever since he was knocked out, it was only about 15 minutes since Ven lost consciousness. When he stirred, and memories came flooding back to him, he flickered his eyes open, and the first thing he felt was his body being incredibly sore. Slowly pushing himself up as he was on his front, Ven saw that he was on a canyon flat like huge platform, on top of the mountain, he realised, near thorny bushes and woods. Pieces of metal was scattered all over the place, the debris of the airship.

Also lying on the ground, were Mickey, Lea, Isa, Donald, Cid, Tseng and Iago who was half stuck in the thorny bushes, his butt and tail feathers sticking out. Fortunately, they were all still alive, as they all groaned and slowly pushed themselves up. Against all odds and the sudden attack of the Carpies, they survived.

"I-Is everyone alright?" Ven asked, a bit weakly.

"Ow..." Lea moaned, as he held a hand to his forehead, then muttered to Isa next to him, "I take back that laugh when you told me about your nightmare, Isa. Crashing...is definately...dangerous."

"Ugh..." Isa groaned, then he muttered, "At least we had a softish landing in these bushes."

Donald cringed as he pulled out a single thorn that got stuck on is bottom, and grumbled sarcastically, "Yeah...lucky us."

Iago then pulled himself out and crashed into the ground, groaning, "Ow!" before began slowly and carefully pull out at least fifteen thorns from his wings and body, then glared up at the sky and yelled out, hoping the Carpies could hear him, "Stupid Crows! That kind of human machine stuff is dangerous!"

"Worse part is, I'm not sure if it'll get us back down again." Cid grumbled, "There goes next month's pay."

"Oh, there's gotta be a way to get back down and get home again." Mickey pointed out.

Tseng, while grunting in soreness, pointed out to the group, "Before we can do that, we must save Selphie before sun up."

"He's right. We'd better get moving." Isa agreed.

With that, the group knew they had to save Selphie, and since the sun had already set, they had to hurry without drawing out attention to teh Carpies. So they exited the small forest and were immediately met with the edge of the cliff, which was very high up. Fortunately, none of them were afraid of heights, but it was still nerve wrecking enough, as this kind of fall can kill a person if they were not careful.

"Well, there's a ledge right below us." Ven spotted, "Maybe it will lead us to Selphie." he suggested.

Tseng nodded in agreement, then turned to Cid and said, "We will need to make our escape once we've'd retrieved Selphie. See if you can repair the airship."

"Can't make any promises, but I'll get right to work." Cid sighed.

"Donald and I can help you, if you like, ." Mickey offered.

"Yeah." Donald agreed.

Iago, gulping nervously and sweating in fear, then mumbled scaredly, "Um, I think I'll stay and help repair the airship too." and quickly dashed back towards the crash site, much to everyone else's annoyances.

When Cid and Tseng both gazed at the students, Isa simply told them, "Don't ask."

"In the meantime, the rest of us will go with Tseng to save Selphie, if that's okay." Ven continued, hoping to bring everyone out of why Iago irritates them.

"Then it's settled." Tseng agreed, thankful that someone else agreed with him on wanting to focus on the missions rather than delve into why the parrot annoyed the group so much.

* * *

While Cid, Mickey, Donald and Iago were fixing up the airship as best as they could, Ven, Lea, Isa and Tseng, thankfully finding a trial leading down to the ledge, began carefully making their way towards an opening which they found was a cave, which, according to the Wutaiian Turk, Carpies lived in caves rather than in trees, which made sense considering that this was a mountain.

Lea then stepped onto a crumbling part of the ledge and lost his footing, crying out in alarm as he began to fall.

"Lea!" Isa cried out, quickly extending his arm and grabbed hold of his friend's wrist, before pulling him back onto the ledge, while Ven and Tseng stopped when they saw what happened. Isa helped Lea back to safety and the two best friends sighed in relief.

"You okay?" Isa asked, concerned.

Taking couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, Lea sighed and replied, smiling a little at his friend, "Yeah. Thanks, man. That's two I owe you, now."

"Who's keeping count?" Isa joked, earning a chuckle from Lea.

After that, the four of them finally found it and with a short jump, they were inside the cave's mouth. Cautionly, the Turk and the three students made their way into the deep cave, which had stairs, though it was a mystery on why stairs are needed for giant birds like Carpies in the first place.

Just then, there was an echo of a familiar voice, singinging, and Ven whispered, "Guys, I think I hear Selphie's voice." and he led the way, down the stairs, with Lea, Isa and Tseng following. The four of them followed the direction of the singing, which stopped, but by the time it did, they arrived at the two very large doors into another room. They could hear the Carpie King telling Selphie to sing some more, depsite the girl's tired whine that she was tired and wanted to be let out, but was forced to sing again.

"We have to save her." Ven whispered, and made to dash in, but Lea and Isa both grabbed his arms and stopped him.

"Ven, are you crazy?" Lea hissed in a whisper.

"We can't make a made dash in there, you know. It's too risky." Isa added.

"The best thing to do is sneak in without alerting the Carpies." Tseng agreed, thankful that two of the future Turks stopped their friend from doing something foolish and life risking. "From what I can hear, they seem to be asleep due to Selphie's singing."

Even though Ven was impaitent, he had to admit that the others were right. If he rushed in, he would wake up those things and then things would end badly. So, it was best to sneak in, get Selphie and then sneak out and hope for the best.

When the four stepped in, they found like 30 Carpies all over the place, including their king, fast asleep, and also found a rather exhausted Selphie in the cage hanging from the ceiling, ready to pass out, but had forced herself to continue singing. But when she noticed four familiar figures, she silently waved them over while continuing to sing, nearing it's end for the umtempth time since her imprisonment here.

Ven, Tseng, Lea and Isa silently approached the cage that hanged over them, then thankfully, they noticed a small gap in the wall which was the same level as the cage. Good thing they were also good at climbing and that they noticed a piece of long wood long enough to attatch to the gap and the cage. Ven and Lea climbed up first, then Tseng and Isa lifted the piece of wood towards them. The two boys on the top grabbed it and then as silently as they could, lifted it high and placed the wood to the cage while having the other hand on the edge of the hole they were in.

"You keep this steady, and I'll cross over." Ven whispered to Lea, then began walking carefully towards the cage. Once he made it, the blonde-haired teen then made work to untie the knot that kept the door of the cage shut.

' _Let's hope Ven knows how to untie a very hard piece of knot._ ' Isa thought to himself as he and Tseng waited down below, ready to climb up if there was any difficulty.

Thankfully, Ven succeeded, and opened the door, as he and Selphie briefly hugged, then he whispered to her, while holding her hand to help her cross safely, "C'mon. Hurry."

Once they made it back to Lea, the three of them then carefully climbed back down to meet up with Isa and Tseng, before all five of them made their way out of the room as silently as possible.

Once they were in a safe distance, Selphie hugged all four young men, though Tseng was slightly surprised by the affection, but didn't mind.

"I'm so happy to see all of you." Selphie said happily, then she asked, "How did you get here?"

"Cid's airship, that's how." Isa answered with a shrug.

"He, Mickey and Donald are above us getting things ready." Ven added.

"And once we get back to them, we'll be able to go home." Lea concluded.

"We shouldn't waste anymore time." Tseng told the four students, "Let's go."

The others nodded, and they made their way back to the entrance of the cave, hoping not to wake the Carpies and make it back in time and hopefully return home safely.

* * *

During Ven's groups descend into the cave, Mickey, Donald, Cid and even Iago were doing their past to put the pieces of the airship back to together, while reading the instructions as best as they could, though Mickey, Donald and Iago couldn't figure out if the slot they were reading was either a Slot-D, Slot-E or a Slot-B.

"Geez, it's too dark to see anything." Cid grumbled in annoyance.

"Tell me about it." Iago sighed, "But do you see any more light around here in the middle of nowhere?"

That's when an invisible light-bulb blinked up in Mickey's head, as he said, "I know! We can make fire." before asking Cid, "Mr. Highwind, do ya have any matches?"

Realising his idea as Mickey broke off a small stick from a thorn bush, Cid digged into his pockets and pulled out a box of matches, grinning, "I may not smoke, but I keep these in handy just in case." and lit one up and lights the stick Mickey was holding as a torch. They, Donald and Iago smiled, but it was short lived, as a small gust of wind blew it out, and they were rendered back into the darkness of night.

All four of them groaned and faceplamed. "Oh nuts." Donald grumbled.

"Dang it." Cid cursed.

"Darn it!" Mickey grumbled.

"Great. So much for that idea." Iago complained.

With that, the four of them continued what they had been doing for the entire night, and it felt like they were no where near done. They did the best they could, but by this time, it was starting to get a little ridiculous, especially Mickey commented in annoyance, "Oh, this is like placing a jig-saw puzzle with my eyes closed."

Just then, Mickey and the others heard rustling from the bushes near them, and Iago froze, then screamed and panicked, hiding behind Donald who glanced at him in annoyed disbelief. Thankfully, Ven, Lea, Isa, Tseng and Selphie emerged, and Ven proclaimed, "We made it!"

"Selphie! Gosh, you're okay!" Mickey exclaimed happily, as he and Donald both hugged Selphie who hugged them back happily. Iago sighed in relief and Cid smiled, glad that Selphie was safe.

"Thanks for rescuing me!" Selphie said, almost in tears, mentally thanking whatever gods that were watching over them at that very moment.

Thankful that they were successful in rescuing Selphie and glad that she was safe, Tseng then turned his attention to Cid, Mickey and Donald, asking them, "The airship?"

Mickey was the one to explain as he gestured at, well, the airship in the dark, saying, "Well, the three of us and Iago placed most of the parts back together...with a few missing parts, but it's done."

The group waited until the sun started to rise, and when it did, they were might with an very odd sight. The airship was rebuilt alright, in more ways than one. It looked more like a passenger boat-plane which it's wings resembled to a giant boomarang. Mickey, Cid and Donald had also redone the fuel gage with the remaining berries the group had taken with just in case they ran out, the glass was used as a hatch, there were ten seats in total, and five joint sticks for steering that was used from both metal poles and the remains of the steering wheel.

Ven and the others glanced at the four who redid this, and Mickey said sheepishly, "Well, ha, it was dark."

"It will fly?" Ven asked.

"That's what we're hopin'." Cid sighed.

Iago shrugged and commented, "Well, luckily for me, I don't need a dumb airplane to fly. I've got wings."

"Which you briefly lost when that mirror turned you into a lizard, Mushu into a beetle and shrunk me down to size until Genie turned us back to normal." Mickey reminded skeptically.

* * *

 _FlashBack-Back in Episode 1:_

 _Mickey suddenly realised in horror, "Oh no! I said I was a small mouse!"_

 _"I said I was a dung beetle!" Mushu added in horror._

 _"And I said I was a frilled lizard!" Iago concluded in shock._

* * *

"Yeah, well," Iago began to argue, "I've could've said, _"If you're a small mouse and dragon-boy's a dung beetle, then I am the richest parrot in the world"_! But what did I say?" then acts stupidly, concluding, " _I'm a frilled lizard._ "

"Okay guys, knock it off." Isa sharply interrupted. "So what do we do now?"

"Yeah," Selphie said worriedly, "Those ugly bird things will wake up soon."

Lea was examining the new plane, then, seeing how it works, smirked and said, "Well, we could always use our weight to support it, and since this thing is like a boomarang, we can just glide down."

"Rather an impressive idea, Lea." Tseng replied, admittedly impressed with Reno's cousin's way of thinking. Everyone else thought it was a clever idea too.

"Great! Let's go!" Donald declared, attatching the rope to the back of the plane.

With that, the group pushed the plane closer to the edge, opened up the hatched and climbed into their seats. Cid, Mickey, Lea, Tseng, and Isa were at the joint stick positions, while the rest of them were in their seats. Iago had his own seat and mentally grumbled for the lack of seatbelts. But then there was another problem; they weren't moving.

"Uh, guys?" Mickey spoke up, "Somethin's right right."

Iago then realised what the problem was and groaned in dismay, "Well of course! Someone has to push the stupid piece of junk off!"

"But then that means...someone has to be left behind." Ven realised in dismay. He and everyone else all glanced at each other, worriedly.

It wasn't until someone made the decision.

* * *

Back in the cave, the Carpie King was mumbling in his sleep, telling Selphie to sing more. During the night, one of the Carpies, who had a sleeping fight with another he was sleeping with on the branch, had fallen and landed on the same wooden thing Ven and Lea used to rescue Selphie. But when the King pushed the cage again, it cased the wood to lose it's support, and the Carpie to fall unexpectly and land onto his king's lap, waking him up in alarm as well.

While the lone Carpie grinned sheepishly, King Carpie wondered how on earth this happened, but then when he looked at the cage, his eyes widened in shock as the door was opened, and the cage itself was empty!

"What?" He gasped, then yelled, which is exclaim caused the lacky Carpie to fall and crash step by step down to the ground, "Wake up! My Song Bird has escaped!"

At this, all of the Carpies woke up in alarm, and seconds later, their King bellowed, "Find her, you fools!"

The Carpies all quickly took air and flew out of the room to find Selphie.

* * *

It was Cid who was now pushing the plane towards off the cliff, despite the others's protests. "Mr. Highwind, wait!" Selphie cried out, "You'll be left behind!"

"Cid, let me stay behind." Tseng tried to say, "As a Turk, it's my duty to ensure the safety of others."

"It has to be me." Cid pointed out, "Besides, I can fight."

"Then...then we'll stay too!" Ven stated.

"Don't be stupid, kid!" Cid argued, "This thing's my damn airship! Besides, I'll be fine. I'll climb down and turn those birds into roast chicken."

Lea was at the point of tears that one of his teachers was going to sacrifice himself, and then quickly hugged the pilot, and soflty cried. "Bye, Cid!" and despite Cid cringing at this sight, he felt his heart ache and gently patting the young redhead on the back to try and calm him down.

Cid then turned to Isa and said firmly, "It's all up to you, Isa."

"Me?" Isa asked, pointing at himself in disbelief, then deadpanned, "You gotta be kidding."

Just then, the sound of squaking was heard and the group looked to see the flock of Carpies heading towards them. With time running out, Lea forced himself to stop crying and rejoined the others into the plane, while Tseng and Ven closed the hatch, though Iago was left outside, and Cid then pushed the vessle with all of his might.

Once it was pushed off the cliff, Ven, taking Cid's place, along with Tseng, Mickey, Lea and Isa, steered the glider up to catch the wind and they, Selphie, and Donald were away, gliding and flying back down. Cid waved them a goodbye, before turning to face King Carpie and the Carpie flock.

"Hey, wait for me!" Iago shouted to the plane, before screaming as he saw the monster-birds coming closer and quickly bomb-dived down to catch up to his friends, "Parrot over-board and forced to escape giant Crows that will scare the Scarecrow!"

"I'll take you on, you nasty vult-raAAAHGH!" Cid suddenly cried out as he had accidently had his foot caught in the rope that was trailed behind and attatched to the plane and was carried off, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "WHOA-HOAH!"

This led into a chase, and King Carpie and his minions caught up and were following the group, then commanded, "Don't let them escape!"

Two Carpies approached Iago who panicked as two black birds were both sides of him, and he panicked. "Uh, can we just talk about this?" he squeaked. But they made to grab him and he ducked in his panic, but had also unexpectedly caused both Carpies to crash into each other comically and then, losing their flight balacne and unconscious, both fell to their deaths. Iago, seeing this, was waved and innocently waved them a goodbye while still flying himself.

Cid was grabbed by the arms, but then he forced his arms over him which resulted the two Carpies to be smashed into each other, and fell down into the same fate as two of their comrades.

Other Carpies ripped the hatch glass off, and tried to get to the others, but Tseng punched one in the eye, causing the Carpie to scream in agony and accidently crash into two others, and fell down below. Ven, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Selphie, and Donald all did the similiar things, but there were still many other Carpies that kept on fellowing them, including the king. In the meantime, Isa, during this fall, was mentally panicking and felt his stomach lurch, the memories of his nightmare returning to him.

"Toss them and snap them in half!" King Carpie commanded.

Two Carpies grabbed hold of the wings of the aircraft and attempted to cause Ven and the others to crash. Iago panicked and dove in to but was chased by another one and he flew to escape.

Lea noticed that his best friend was panicking, and cried out, "Isa!" getting Isa's attention, and the redhead continued, "Remember what I said before? As a future Turk, you have do things that you're uncomfortable with! Besides, you're our navigator!"

Quickly realising that Lea was right, Isa forced down his fear, then saw a carven between two walls ahead of them, and then had an idea. He then glanced at Lea, Tseng, Ven and Mickey, "Guys! On my mark, pull to the right, and then Mickey, pull to the left to angle the plane!"

With their affirmitive, Isa counted, "Ready, set, NOW!" and he and the four others pulled their joint sticks to the right, while Selphie and Donald hanged on as tightly as tley could, and then Mickey pulled to the left to keep the glider titled to the right side, and they sweeped right into the large crack in a perfect fit, while the Carpies, seeing this too late, all crashed into each side of the wall head first, before falling to their deaths, and Cid grinned, yelling out, "Serves ya's right, suckers!"

Iago, being the smallest, easily fits through the crack without going side ways, while his chaser also crashed into the wall, and Iago coudln't help but taunt, "You missed!" while escaping.

King Carpie, now on his own, was not willing to give up easily and also flew sideways to catch up to his enemies and retrieve his prize. Making it to the other side of the walls and back into the opening, the king caught up to Ven and the others, grunting, "This is the end, you meddling worms!" and kicks the plane, causing it to fall.

"Lean back!" Isa told his friends as he and the others pulled the joint sticks back, rightening the position again and they were in gliding mode. But then the King caused them to spin around forward, though he wasn't paying attention as the rope was also caught around the plane and Cid, along with Iago who wasn't pay attention either has lagged behind, both crashed into the back of King Carpie, until they were tied up to the craft which once again rightened into position.

"I think we lost him!" Mickey thought.

But he and the others cried out in fright as King Carpie climbed up in front of them, and he sneered evilly, "You will never escape me."

But then Selphie gazed at the crown and had an idea, also seeing a rock arch coming into view. She then snatched the crown King Carpie's crown, glaring at him, while he demanded, "My crown! Give it back!"

"Catch, you bad birdy!" Selphie threw the crown up into the air.

King Carpie flew up and caught the crown while flying backwards, but too late, he crashed into the rock arch, and he too fell and disappeared into the clouds below, while the group, Cid and Iago flew under the arch, and all, except Tseng who softly sighed in relief, cheered in victory.

* * *

Making it back to Radiant City, the group's glider zoomed towards Radiant Academy where Terra and everyone else of the school waited and were all relieved to see their friends and in Reno's case, his cousin, back home safely.

"They saved Selphie!" Minnie cried out happily, being the first to notice Selphie. She and the others then saw Cid being dragged along with Iago, who was now clinging onto Cid's chest. Reno laughed at the sight.

"Gawrsh, I think Iago likes being dragged." Goofy thought as he waved at his friends.

Genie, who was bed ridden due to the bump on his head, noticed them and sighed, along with Mushu who was in a mini wheel chair with some bandages, muttered, "All's well that end's well."

"Yeah, yeah, everybody's a critic." Mushu grumbled.

* * *

An hour later, after Ven's group landed safely, they were immediately taken to the medical treatment room, and so far, only Cid and Iago rechieved injuries. Everyone else was perfectly fine, but were checked up, just in case. All in all, Selphie was back home and safe.

Reno, Minnie, and Daisy were fretting over Lea, Mickey and Donald who told them they were alright. Ven was in the similiar position with Terra and Aqua. Tseng made his report to Director Veld. Isa sighed as he smirked in amusement on how Lea was getting lectured by his cousin who had been so worried about him for 24 hours.

"After hearing what you fellas went through, I wanna start singing." Goofy thought, then began to sing Selphie's song, "~ _Come fly with me, there is so much to,_ -Mmph!" only to cut off when Selphie clamped her hands over his mouth to make him stop.

"Anything but that, okay?" Selphie asked, having told herself she never wanted to hear that song again for as long as she lived.

Seeing that Selphie didn't want to even hear it, Goofy replied, though his voice was muffled due to Selphie's hands, "Oh...okay."

Once Lea was finally able to be free from Reno's lecture, though he did earn himself a ruffled on the head, Isa approached him and muttered, "Hey, Lea. Thanks for snapping me out of my fear back there."

"You saved me, Isa." Lea shrugged with a smile, "Besides, we're best friends, right?"

"Right." Isa replied with a smile.

"Is that too tight?" Tifa asked Iago who cried out, "Yes!" as she tied the fore-head bandage around his head rather too tightly.

"Great." Cissnei smiled in approvement as she supervised, "That's how it should be."

Melody giggled, while she said, "Sounds like an awful adventure, huh, Iago?"

"If I ever have another crazy, whacky, and painful adventure after three major ones so far this year, it'll be too soon." Iago groaned, refering to the New Year's incident, the Selene incident and this incident with the Carpies, not wanting to go through another un-normal one too soon or straight away.

"Not so fast, Cid." Doctor Shalua said firmly as she forced the said man to sit back down when he attempted to stand up. She then said to Ven, "Ventus, could you please finish off Highwind's banadages? I have to see to Tseng."

"I'm perfectly all right, Dr. Rai." Tseng said calmly.

"I'll be the judge of that." Shalua pointed out, as she approached the Turk.

Ven, in the meantime, bandaged Cid's busted ankle despite that the pilot can walk, and said, "Dr. Rai. You really should hear this! The place was so cool, and high, and..." finished his work and rushed to continue the story to the doctor.

"Sheesh, kids." Cid grumbled, "A lotta chatter boxes." standing up to walk to sit in a more comfortable chair. Unfortunately, Ven had accidently tied his ankle to the chair leg and as a result, the impact cause Cid to tumble and fall, with the chair now resting on his back. In embarrassment and impressived, he muttered, "Well, at least the kid ties a good piece of knot."

Soon things almost returned to normal...almost. Because no one knew when the next crazy adventure would come.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: I've decided to post the second part on the same day as the first part.**

 **Please continue your reviews, fellow readers, and I'll see you next in the next chapter.**


	6. Episode 6: Iago Marks the Spot

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Since little Sora, little Riku, and little Kairi hardly got any spotlight since the series began, I've decided to write up an episode featuring them and other little kiddies...and Iago.**

 **There's also a bit of a surprise I'd thought off that I put in here. As for the episode itself, it's based on another Disney kiddies TV series I used to watch as a child. Yes, I know it's childish of me, but hey, call me a big kid. I like kids shows as well as action movies and games at the same time, along with a good laugh.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 6: Iago Marks the Spot.

A ship with a sail that was being blown by the winds sailed through the seas in a high-born adventure!...well, actually, no, not really. Because it wasn't even a real ship, the ocean was really just the grassy field in the park of Radiant City and the crew of pirates, were actually small children dressed up in pirate costumes.

Little Sora was wearing a costume that resembled to Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, without a hook, little Riku was wearing an fake eye-patch over his right eye, and an blue and white stripey shirt and brown shorts, little Kairi, being the only female member but had insisted to play too, wore a purple bandana, white shirt and cute shorts, and little Tidus wore a yellow shirt, red bandana, brown shorts and tongs while the other children wore brown shoes that acted like boots.

They were riding on the boat that had wheels and looked like a ship for their size and comfort.

The children were happily singing their own version of the pirate song and eventually, they stopped their 'ship' at the sand pit of the park and began to dig through it in hopes of finding treasure. It wasn't until they were interrupted by an familiar and annoyince voice who had just happened to arrive at the wrong time and quickly found himself buried by sand that was thrown on top of him.

"Hey!" Cried out an irritated Iago who popped his head out of the new sand pile, spitting out sand that got into his mouth, causing the four children to stop, as he yelled, "What you brats think you're doin'?"

"Hi, Iago." Sora greeted with a happy grin, "I mean-ahoy! We're playing pirates today."

"We're digging for buried treasure!" Tidus added.

"I'll bury you if you don't knock it off and stop trying to put me into my grave!" Iago snapped, jumping out and scaring the children who immediately evacuated back onto their ship which rolled backwards briefly.

"Furl the sail!" Riku cried out as he and his friends fiddled with the ropes to get their sail to catch the wings again.

"Aye, aye!" The other children cried out.

"Weigh anchor!" Sora cried out.

"Aye, aye!"

"Hard to starboard!" Kairi cried out.

"Aye aye!" and soon enough, their ship was going forward again, this time in high speed, right back to the sand pit.

Iago was busy throwing the sand back into the pit, grumbling to himself, "Little annoying kids these days..." only to hear something, and when he saw the fake ship coming straight towards him, he only had time to flabber in fear, "Ayeayeayeayeaye!" and then was run over while the children rushed away, and Iago, who had escaped, had fallened into the hole that was made by the children.

Climbing out, Iago then heaved and grunted, "That's it! Now I'm mad!" only to lose his grip and then fall back into the hole again.

Unexpectedly, a pair of tiny hands went into the hole, grabbed hold of Iago on the waist and pulled him back out and gently placed him back onto the ground. Confused, the parrot turned to see a young five year old girl who surprisingly was an exact spitting image of Kairi, but with black hair. She wore a blue dress with a white jacket, black and white shoes.

"Are you okay, Mr. Parrot?" The little girl asked.

Iago was speechless that he couldn't say anything.

"Ah, the bird's fine, pipsqueak." A new voice joined them, and two looked up to see a teenager, around Ven's, Lea's and Isa's age, black spiky hair that looked a little like what Sora's would be when the little five year old would be a teenager someday, only spikier like Zack's hair. This guy wore greaser phase, leather jacket with a white shirt inside, black jeans with black boots, black fingerless gloves, and wearing a pair of shades like Reno's best friend Rude.

"Why don't you go play somewhere else with your friends Roxas and Namine? The bird's fine." The guy continued.

"If you say so, Mr. Vanitas." The little girl nodded, then turned back to Iago and cutely waved, "Please be safe, Mr. Parrot." and stood up, then she ran off to play somewhere else, which wasn't far, because she approached another five year old boy whom, from Iago's sight and to his shock, looked like a miniture version of Ven, wearing a green shirt and brown shorts with blue shoes(Roxas), and another girl who also looked like Kairi but with white hair, wearing a white dress and sandles(Namine).

"And Xion, please don't call me Mr, for a millionth time!" Vanitas, the new teen's name, cried out, then groaned. "At least she and her friends have cool parents."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Iago asked, only to be grabbed by his tail feathers and met eye to eye-or rather, shades-with Vanitas.

"Exactly what I said, idiot." Vanitas said, "Now, I don't know about you, but it ticked me off the way how you scared off those other kids like that."

"Like what? They're the ones who buried me in the first place!" Iago argued, "Besides, I know those kids. I live with them at the Academy. They're used to be by now since almost last year." only to be dropped harshly to the ground when Vanitas lets go of him on purpose. "Ow!"

Vanitas then lowered himself in a crouch, and warned, "You keep acting like that to them, and they'll end up like how my parents treated me and how I ended up like this." and purposely grabbed the toy bucket that was left behind, filled it with sand, and then dunked it on top of Iago, causing the bird to be buried for the second time today.

Sastified with his rock, the rock-teen stood up, concluding, "Because in my opinion, no kid should have a childhood like mine." and then just walked off, casually shoving one of the Academy's bullies, Raijin in the chest and caused the larger teen to fall onto the ground when he tried to get rude words to him, and the black haired teen just continued to walk off, ignoring the glares from Seifer and Fujin.

Poking his head out of the sand pile, coughing, Iago glared at Vanitas's back, muttering and scowling, "Jerk. I'll show him treatment and show those kids a lesson!"

In other words, he foolishly decided to ignore Vanitas's warning.

* * *

A little while later, Iago had brought out a large chest, having filled it with rocks, locked it with an old fashioned lock, and buried it in a giant pile of dirt, then marked an 'X' on it, while having also made up a fake map leading to this pile, and grinned cheekily at himself and chuckled evilly almost like back when he used to work for Jafar in the Arabian nights.

"Now, to find those little puny 'pirates'." Iago muttered to himself, holding the map in his talons and then took off flying to find the children who were friends of his current friends since coming back to life, due to, aka, Genie's sneeze.

* * *

Breaking fourth wall moment-And if you have idea what I'm talking about, please go to the first season, "Life FAR From Normal" and look up episode 19-Sneezing Drama. Okay, back to the story.

* * *

It didn't take him long as high from the air, he found the four children who ended up crashing their 'ship' into Genie by accident, while they were flown and nearly landed on the ground. Fortunately, the others were there, as Terra caught Riku, Aqua caught Kairi, Ven caught Sora, and Lea caught Tidus, but the redhead ended up stumbling backwards and accidently landed flat on his back, and on top of Mushu, briefly squashing the miniture dragon. Isa smirked at his friend's current state.

Iago grinned. Oh his plan couldn't get any sweeter than this. The other day, Lea and Isa had played a practical joke on him by dumping a bucket of slime while he was in a bird bath, but the two students didn't get into trouble. Now it was pay back time.

Genie had quickly recovered and repaired the children's 'ship' instantly, while the four children also recovered.

"What's the hurry, mateys?" Ven asked, deciding to play along as the four children dressed up as pirates.

"We were trying to find a place to dig out a treasure chest, but couldn't find any." Sora explained.

Genie instantly magically turned into a pirate and said in a pirate voice, "Arr, me hearties! You ain't gonna find any treasure by land! Yeh gotta sail ho to the open sea!" which made everyone chuckle, even as Lea got up, and picked up the slightly flattened Mushu.

"Remind me to ask you to teach me how to sound like that when I pretend to be a pirate, Genie." Lea laughed. "You're awesome as a pirate."

"Pirates are not very nice, you know." Aqua said in her motherly tone.

"Aw, c'mon, Aqua. Live a little. Let the kids pretend and use their imaginations once and a while." Terra gently nudged his girlfriend's shoulder with a smirk.

That's when Iago came down hovering, calling out, going all into act for his plan, "Guys, oh guys! Check this out!" getting everyone's attentions as he lands onto a thick short pillar, holding the map in his hand/wings, continuing, "You will not believe what I have found."

"What is it, Iago?" Ven asked, curiously.

"You all know how I was, uh, where all my parrot relatives are until last year," Iago began, while quickly remembering now to reveal his first death to the children, unrolling the map and showed it to his friends, "Well, I just remembered that I met an old, lost relative, and I found his treasure map!"

"A treasure map from a relative of yours?" Isa asked, skeptically, not believing the bird.

Iago nodded, continuing, "It is the ancient, belong to my lost, old great, great, great uncle, Long John Feathers, the most infamous Parrot-Pirate ever!" then broke the fourth wall and whispered to the viewers/readers with a wink to mentally shush them, "And the only Parrot-Pirate." before looking back at his friends who, all except Isa, Terra and Aqua who were also skeptical, and including Genie, all became very interested in the map, falling for Iago's lies.

"Wow!" Sora, Tidus, Riku and Kairi all squeeled happily, "A treasure map!"

"Iago, where'd you find this?" Ven asked, curiously.

"Well, that's for you to know." Iago replied.

Lea studied the map, then quirked and eyebrow, muttering, "And your great, great, great uncle made this map? Looks like something a nine year old would make."

"Oh, ancient stuff is always hard to figure out, Lea." Genie pointed out, taking the map from the redheaded teen and studied it himself, then smiled and pointed at the direction where Iago had came from, "We go that-a way!" and then instantly turned himself into an hot-air balloon, then said to the others, "Well, climb aboard."

The four small children happily climbed on, with Ven and Lea climbing in next, and Iago perched himself onto the side of the basket as Genie was the balloon part. Ven and Lea then noticed that the others weren't getting on and the former asked, "You guys not comin'?"

"Sorry Ven, but I have a practice run with Squall." Terra apologuised.

"And I have art class with Elena and Rinoa." Aqua added.

"I'm not gonna waste my time in looking for some dumb old chest." Isa grunted with his arms crossed.

"And I rather go off to join Mickey and the others after Lea nearly flattened me like a pancake." Mushu added in annoyance.

"Oh, okay." Ven shrugged, a bit disappointed.

Lea on the other hand, just shrugged with a grin and told the four, "Your loss. We'll be sure to bring back the chest, though." waving at the non-coming group.

With that, the hot-air balloon lifted off, leading towards where Iago knew the plan had worked. Out loud, though, he muttered in half sarcasm, "For once, Genie being an air-head is a good thing."

It wasn't long before they found the map's location and Genie lowered his friends down, and turned back to normal as soon as the group got out of the basket and back onto solid ground. During the trip, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Tidus were having the time of their lives. They, Ven, Lea and Genie then saw the pile of dirt with the mark on it, and Genie went to it, examining.

"Hmm...looks like the mark." Genie thought.

"That's because it IS the mark, you idiot!" Iago pointed out in an irritated voice. "Marks don't look like anything else."

"He has a point." Ven reluctantedly agreed, while mentally grumbling on how Iago was calling Genie an idiot. He always felt annoyed with the red parrot whenever he made a comment on their magical friend.

"Well, better start to dig the chest out." Lea said with a grin.

"Hold up, my redheaded friend!" Genie said, turning into a construction worker with a machine shovel, "I'll do the honors."

Seeing the machine shovel, Iago's eyes bulged out comically and panick, and he zipped away to avoid in getting hurt or injured, or both, considering on how Genie's usually the one to end up giving some bruises to the parrot. Plus, he just recovered from the rescue adventure in saving Selphie two weeks ago. As he had pointed out, he didn't want to go on another crazy adventure again so soon.

In a matter of seconds, while Ven and Lea, who also both realised what was about to happen, pulled the children out of the way and all hid behind trees to avoid in getting injured, Genie cleared the dirt in a small explosion, as dust covered him and around the now unburied chest. Once it cleared, Genie's work clothes were battered and he was coughing up dirt out of his mouth, while the students approached him worriedly.

"Are you okay, Genie?" Tidus asked.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Kairi asked, worriedly.

"I'm fine." Genie replied.

"Wow! That chest is huge!" Sora exclaimed as he and Riku rushed over to the chest, then the boys slumped and the spiky-haired boy grumbled, "But it's locked."

"Well, we did say we'd bring it back to the Academy. Why don't we take it back and show it to the others and then open it?" Ven suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Lea said, "Besides, it's no fun that the others would miss out on the good stuff in these baby."

As the group talked, they seemed to have forgot about Iago, who was now hiding behind a tree, and, sastified that his plan was working, snickered to himself and flew off back to the Academy himself.

* * *

Later that night, in his own room next door to Mushu's which was next door to Goofy's, Iago was in his bed, softly laughing to himself as he prepared himself to go to sleep, while saying, "Ah, bring tricky has never been more fun."

Iago covered himself in a blanket, proud of himself, "Those kids will think twice than to dump sand on me. Ah, Iago, you're a genius." and then went to sleep thinking of himself as a smart parrot.

 _In his dreams, Iago was still ranting on on how a genius he was, when suddenly, startled out of his mind, rocks came out of the ground and surrounded him. To his shock, it was Sora, Riku, Kairi and Tidus, but something was different-way different. They were teenagers now, wearing similiar clothing to that Vanitas guy._

 _"You lied to us, Iago!" Teenaged Sora, fifteen years old, yelled angrily._

 _"You filled the chest with nothing but lousy rocks!" Teenaged Riku, sixteen years old, added furiously._

 _"How could you do that to us!?" Teenaged Kairi, fifteen years old, cried out, "Our lives our ruined thanks to you!"_

 _"You betrayed us, you stupid bird!" Teenaged Tidus, seventeen years old, added in anger._

 _To Iago's horror, the rest of his friends all appeared in rock forms, and they were all adults now, glaring at him with hateful eyes. Just then, behind him, a ghostly figure of Vanitas appeared, with golden eyes, and he told the parrot, "I did warn you, idiot. Now thanks to you, these kids are exactly like me, and worse, your friends have become criminals."_

 _Iago shivered in fear, cowering, "I-I-I didn't mean it! It was just..."_

"It was just a joke!" Iago cried out, waking up back in his bed, panting, "It was just...it was just..." confused at first on where he was, then realised he was safely in his room and sat up, sighing, wiping sweat from his feathered forehead, "Phew! It was just a dream."

But then he remembered Vanitas's warning earlier, and the dream, and then realised something and gasped. If the kids find those rocks, they'll end up being bitter, along with his friends, and turn into the versions like in his dream.

Worse, they'll hate him forever.

"I gotta get that chest back, before they open it." Iago said to himself, and thought of an idea how to get the chest back without blowing his stunt up. Then had an idea.

* * *

Apparently the group who found Iago's chest couldn't even open it yet, not even whatever Genie tried to do could open it. So instead, they camped out in Lea's room(and for once, he actually cleaned it up, via Aqua's command), and all of them were sitting-leaning against each other, all sleeping soundly, with Lea and Genie both snoring loudly.

Outside of Lea's room, Iago, now dressed up in a pirate coat, hat, eye-patch and fake long beard, came with a small jar of white flour, and then covered himself up to turn himself white like a ghost, with a wooden sword that also turned white due to the white powder.

"This oughta convince them to get rid of the chest." Iago said to himself, then sneezed due to the flour getting up his nostrils, "Ah-Choo!"

Clearing his throat, Iago then bellowed in a pirate voice, "Arr-Har, mere mortals! It is I...*AH-CHOO!* The Ghost of Long John Feathers!" in an evil and angered voice.

Inside the room, Iago's fake voice quickly awoke the group who all jolted up in fright, as Iago continued, "Gimme back me treasure, or you all shall be cursed into Davy Jones' Locker!"

Looking through his peak-hole of his door, Lea's eyes widened as he saw a ghost, and muttered, "Dang! It is a ghost!" scaredly. You see, after so many mysterious things that happened since last year, Lea was now a firm believer in other myths, which included ghosts despite not having seen a ghost until now. Not only that, he was getting worried on this 'ghost's' warning and didn't want to end up cursed.

"Even ghosts are real?" Ven asked, worriedly.

Sora, Riku, and Tidus all hid underneath Lea's blanket while Kairi climbed onto the head and backed up to the wall as much as possible, all of them terrified out of their minds. "What should we do?" Kairi asked, getting all teary eyed.

"Maybe we should give the treasure chest back." Riku thought.

"Sounds like a good idea, Riku." Sora agreed, "I don't wanna go into Davy's Locker."

"Me neither." Tidus added.

"Genie?" Ven began.

"Allow me to handle this ghost, boys." Genie said, though he was getting shaking knees, as he approached the door to open it to great the ghost.

"Arr!" Iago continued, "I've come to collect what's mine. Now hand it ov-Omf!" only to get cut off when he was standing too close to the door, and the moment it swinged open, he was caught right on it and was briefly squashed against between the door and the wall to the right side, and tale signs of the flour drifted around the place before fading away, the group now not seeing anything.

"Huh?" Sora asked, now puzzled, "Where'd he go?"

"Maybe he disappeared." Riku thought.

"Yeah." Tidus said, gulping scaredly, "Ghosts do that, you know."

"Or maybe we were hearing things." Ven thought with a shrug, "There's nothing to be scared of." with a small smile.

Lea tried to act confident and added, "Yeah, and I was probably seeing things." as Genie closed the door.

Iago, flattened and the flour now off his clothes and body, formed back into shape, falling off the wall and crashed into the ground, and grumbled softly to himself, "Why do bad things always happen to me?"

"Oh, it's okay, Kairi. Don't cry." Ven said comfortly as he pulled the upset little girl into a gentle and comforting hug, and Kairi began to settle down. "The ghost is gone now."

"And if he's gone, then we can share the treasure, even with Iago." Lea added, and Iago could hear the grin in the teen's tone.

Iago was surprised on what the redhead said, and asked in disbelief, "Share? With me?" surprised that his friends cared enough to actually share something with him. He continued to hear them talk about how they must've regretted in not joining them tonight, which made his heart ache, knowing that his dream could come true, and began guilty and sorrowed. It was even worse when Genie said he found a way to open the chest and would do it tomorrow after all the classes.

Knowing that it was his fault that it came to this, Iago knew that no one would speak to him again as he slowly walked back to his room, then came to a sad conclusion. "There's only one thing left to do, and that's...to leave and never come back."

* * *

The next day, Iago had finished packing up, putting everything from his room(literally) into a small cart with wheels that he gathered outside of the Academy, and prepared to walk off with it, leaving behind the place he called home since returning to life.

Too bad his departure was denied.

"Hey, Iago!" Came Lea's voice. Panicking, Iago tried to pull his stuff, but realised they were way too heavy for him to even move. In desparation, he quickly hid in his mini wardrobe in hopes that no one would find him. Unfortunately, Lea and Mushu approached the wardrobe and opened the door to see Iago who was trying to edge away.

"C'mon, everybody's gonna see the results of Genie opening the chest." Lea said eagerly.

"No, no!" Iago cried out, but was quickly grabbed and dragged along with two of his friends, and he couldn't escape, no matter what he did.

* * *

The trio met up with Ven, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Tidus, Aqua, Terra, Isa and Genie who had explosives all around the chest, and Iago lingered far behind, and he tried to tell them to stop, but they didn't listen.

"Prepare and make room, because this is gonna go ka-boom." Genie said to the group. Soon enough, everyone braced themselves as he pushed the botton on his remote and...

BOOM!

Once the dust cleared, the chest was in pieces, and the rocks that had been put inside was piled up in a pile of, well, rocks. At the silence of the group who stared at the rocks, Iago, sensing the tension rising, nervously said, squeaking, "Uh, maybe Long John Feathers had the wrong chest."

"Uh, Iago..." Ven began, not sure what to say, while the others just continued to stare.

Knowing he was in defeat, Iago cried out, wailing, "Alright, alright! I put those rocks into that chest! I tricked you! But I was angry when those kids buried me in the sand, so I wanted to teach them a lesson! I should've listened to that Vanitas guy!" falling to his knees, expecting to be yelled out, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Look at the pretty patterned rock!" Kairi squealled.

"Huh?" Iago asked, suddenly looking up and saw, to his surprise, the group had gathered around picking up the rocks, which he didn't even realise that each once of them had different kinds of patterns and some with mini skeletions within them.

"Wow!" Ven said, stunned, as he gazed at the shiny blue stone, "An Amber!"

Lea grinned as he picked up a red shiny rock with a small mosquito within it, saying, "Cool, a fossilized insect."

"I like this yellow shiny rock." Sora said at the shiny flat surface rock.

"Gotta say, I'm impressed with all of these fossils, amber and all of the stuff I learned in the Academy." Isa thought with an 'Isa-smile'.

"Now that's what I call treasure." Mushu thought, really impressed with the stuff on the ground.

"They're beautiful." Aqua thought, smiling, fingerling the ice cream pink amber.

"Best part is, there's enough for everyone." Terra said.

"Iago, your great, great, great uncle has really cool treasure." Riku said, smiling.

Iago couldn't believe what he was hearing or seeing. He buried rocks that were actually valueble, and no one was mad at him? He was even further suprised when Genie gave him a purple shiny amber.

"Well, I gotta hand it to you, buddy. Seeing how you found that map, it's best to give you the shiny amber." Genie said, smiling.

"Yeah, these are awesome!" Tidus agreed.

"And we wanna share it to both you and our other friends, even to everyone in the world." Sora added with a very cheerful grin on his adorable face.

Not sure on what to say or even wanting to reveal the truth again, considering how no one heard him the first time, Iago muttered hesitatedly, "Uh, thanks, guys, for the uh, pretty purple ammer, or whatever it's called." exhaustedly relieved that his dream didn't come true after all.

Just then, an echoy and spooky pirate voice then spoke up out of nowhere, " _Arr-har!_ " and when everyone look up, to their shock and horror, was a ghostly parrot figure in a pirate uniform, long beard and an eye-patch, with a peg-leg, sitting on a tall rock, as the ghost continued, " _You found me buried Amber and fossils, did'cha?_ "

"GHOST!" Everyone in the group exclaimed horror, and all immediately grabbed everything and then immediately ran all the way back to Radiant Academy in hopes to get away from the ghost of Long John Feathers-the real Long John Feathers.

Seeing them run off(or fly in Iago's case), made the ghost puzzled as he scratched his head in confusion before disappearing.

Hiding behind a tree as the ghost disappeared, Vanitas, lifting his shades off to reveal his, not golden eyes, but blue eyes, and smiled, muttering to himself, "Sure glad that bird taught himself a lesson." before walking off to head back to town himself.

So the treasure of Amber and Fossils were shared by both everyone in the Academy and to the Museum of Radiant City, and Iago sure learned his lesson to never try to teach very young children a lesson ever again. Though that didn't mean he couldn't get Lea and Isa back, so, he'll have to plan more carefully to teach two of the four or five troublemakers a lesson.

Unless Xehanort needs a lesson learnt himself, which the old man could be also on Iago's list. Maybe.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: So Vanitas, Roxas, Xion and Namine all make cameo appearences, and I promise that at some point in the future that they'll get a bigger role.**

 **Thanks Myesterygirl145 for the idea of Vanitas making an appearence, even though I originally didn't intend to have him, or Roxas, Xion and Namine appear because Heartless and Nobodies don't exist in this universe. But then I changed my mind and decided to add them as normal humans.**

 **Please continued your reviews, fellow readers, and I'll see you in the next episode sometime soon.**


	7. Episode 7: Snakes and Life-Savers

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: This episode is somewhat a combination from two Disney TV shows in different point of views, so, hopefully, it'll be twice amount the laughs.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 7: Snakes and Life-Savers.

Every student attend same classes on some days, on other days, they attend different classes, depending on how things worked out for each of the students' grades. Unfortunately, today would mark a day that would give a couple of students some nightmares for a while. It's even worse when two different classes end up tramatizing a few students and either freak out or disgust other students witnessing.

Let's begin with the Nature Class...

Donald and Goofy were part of the Nature Class in mastering their fishing skills during camping should be camp out in the future, which seems to be a bit of a waste of time, but Jecht insisted none the less. Mushu was with them, and the three of them had been fishing for the past half an hour. They tried either fishing rods or nets to catch fish, but so far, no luck.

But Donald saw three fish just surfacing, and he held up his fishing net on a pole and like a crazy predetor creeping for it's prey, he slowly made to catch the fish...until a bunch of bubbles surfaced like a jaccuzi, scaring the fish away, and he tried to catch them, but unfortuntely, he missed. He sighed, with the bubbles then bubbled underneath the boat he and two of his friends were in, which caused them to stop fishing as well.

"Aw Phooey!" Donald grumbled, throwing his net onto the boat floor in frustration. "This stinks! I haven't caught a single fish all day!"

"Uh, but we've only been doin' this for half an hour, Donald." Goofy pointed out.

"Hey, what's with these jaccuzi bubbles?" Mushu thought, staring at the bubbles.

"Oh, who cares?" Donald grumbled, "They're probably uh...uh, eels or something."

Goofy on the other hand, looked at the water, now getting a bit worried. "Gee, I don't know if this is the right area, but I think we're in the territory of Phiranna."

"Phiranna?" Mushu asked, helplessly and with an expression that said, ' _Uh-oh._ '

Not even seconds later as the words escaped from the smalll dragon's mouth, as all of the sudden, a giant Phiranna bursted out of the water and roared loudly at the trio who nearly flew away, but the bubbles stopped none the less. The next thing the group knew, the freakin' fish pulled out a chainsaw like in the Masscare movie, prepareing to slice them into pieces to have them for lunch!

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Donald, Goofy and Mushu all screamed, then sped away in their boat, until they abandoned the boat all together and practically ran on the water, though not without some casaulties. The Phiranna managed to tear off Donald and Goofy's clothes, save for their boxers, and even skinned some of Mushu's scales off, revealing his own boxers, as they quickly made it to shore, and rejoined the rest of their class, which had Mickey, Terra, Zack, Cloud, and their teacher Jecht who all flinched in shock and confusion on what just happened to the three of them who panted and wheezed at the close call.

"What happened, fellas? Are you okay?" Mickey asked worriedly.

"What happened to you?" Zack asked, before half-joked, "Run into Phirannas or something?"

To his surprise, Donald replied, "A giant Phiranna with a chainsaw nearly killed us!"

"Hmm...this is a problem." Jecht thought.

"Yeah, you think?" Mushu grumbled, before saying to the entire group as he was very annoyed and angry that there had been no warning about this area being a territory of Phirannas, "Now you know what they need? A great big sign right here; _"Warning: Phiranna!"_ , so that this doesn't happen again."

"Like this one?" Goofy asked, pointing at a large wooden sign that strangely appeared next to Cloud, saying, "Warning: Phiranna".

A bit surprised at first, Mushu then replied, "Uh, exactly like that one, but, even bigger!"

Terra snorted, "Oh, like that one, you mean?" pointing at a large Big sales like sign that also said "Warning: Phiranna" with Police and Security lights and sirens blaring behind him and the others.

Cloud looked a bit disturbed, then grumbled, "I don't even want to know where these signs had come from."

"Y'know, this may be a good warm up to our next lesson." Jecht spoke up, and what he said next made the students go all pale. "I call it-How to handle a Snake Problem, and I don't mean Mushu here."

The students and Mushu all groaned, and Donald grumbled, "Wonder how the others' day are going."

* * *

Nightmare Class number one going on, now it's time for Nightmare Class number two: First Aid Class, teenage advanced...

In the classroom, with all the desks moved to make the room empty, save for the students, each one practiced in how to save one's life while another were being picked to react on if they couldn't breathe. Unfortunately, it was Lea's turn to pretend he was dying, and Elena was trying and miserably failing in how to preform CPR on him. She felt completely embarrassed, and kept on pinching Lea's nose too hard.

"Ow! 'Lena! Go easy on the nose!" Lea cried out, getting irritated.

"S-Sorry!" Elena cried out, while mentally wanting to tell the redhead to quit being a big baby.

"Poor Lea. I feel sorry for him." Ven whispered to Isa who shook his head. The only blessing was that Reno and Rude were both invited for phsyical training with Tseng. Lea and Isa would've gone with, but both had to be held back along with Elena to practice their first aid skills better. Ven felt rather embarrased to have had Arlene CPR'd him earlier, considering how the two of them didn't get on that well. If Reno saw the preformace on his cousin, he'd be bursting in a uncontrollable laughter.

Claire Farron sighed in exasperation, feeling a headache coming. Being a First Aid teacher was just as hard as being a psychical fighting/defence teacher. "Okay, Elena, that's enough for you to Lea." she announced, before looking over to another student among the students, and called up, "Raiju, you're up."

Lea's eyes widened in horror as Elena moved away. The redhead quickly sat up just as Rai approached, looking at Claire, pleading, "Ms. Farron! You can't be serious! Anyone but Rai!"

"Whether you like the person or not is not a choice." Claire told him firmly. "Now, lie back onto the floor, or you'll be spending the next week in written exams with Headmaster Xehanort."

Groaning in dismay, as he loathed having detention from Xehanort than anything else, Lea lied back on his back, and shut his eyes, bracing for the worst. Rai grinned, and, mouth wide open, and pinching Lea's nose, causing the younger teen to cry out and open his mouth, the larger teen practically smacked his gob right onto Lea's and did the full on CPR, which was more like the most disgusting kiss from a bad horror movie. Ven, Isa, and everyone else all groaned and cringed in disgust, Elena having to cover her eyes with her hands, Arlene's eye twitching, and Myde's face turning green at the sight.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Myde muttered with a grossed-out expression, as Lea was groaning out in dismay, disgust and horror.

Once Rai moved away from the redhead, Lea breathed heavily, before letting out a blood curdling scream, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" which echoed through out the entire school and parts of Radiant City.

Like I said. Today would mark a day that would give a couple of students some nightmares for a while, and boy, will these kids have nightmares for a while?

* * *

An hour later with the Nature Class, Jecht had told the group in what to do in a snake crisis in case some got near places like Radiant City or managed to get into houses or the Academy or near camp sites. To practice, the students were tested by using ropes and their fishing rods, whatever this lesson was supposed to teach, and were split into partners. Mickey was with Terra, Zack was with Cloud, and Jecht supervised while making sure things didn't go wrong.

Unfortunately, Donald and Goofy were paired up, with Mushu tagging along. They had to set up snake traps, though things weren't going according to plan. Goofy struggled in building his trap for the snakes, with Mushu getting all tangled up in the ropes that was meant to catch snakes as well.

"This is totally ridiculous." Mushu complained, "How can Jecht expect us to build these snake traps if nothing is working for us!?"

"Garwsh, this is kinda hard." Goofy admitted, no matter how he tried to read the instructions.

Donald had finished up his trap, but each time he turned away, it fell into pieces. Annoyed and getting irritated, losing his temper already, he asked, "What's the big idea?" and he tried to get it right, but it came to the point of going into a boxers match against it, fighting it, until he ended up riding on it as it weirdly came to life, nieghing like a horse and it raced through the forest, causing Goofy and Mushu to only stare as Donald and the snake-cage raced through the forest.

He passed a pink snake with a cap who blinked in confusion, before the snake slithered away, while Donald and the cage made it back to his friends and he was thrown off the now rebroken cage broke apart again. He crashed onto the ground and slumped in more exasperation.

"Oh nuts." He grumbled.

* * *

No sooner First Aid Class ended, Lea immediately rushed over to the nearest water-drink fountain in the halls and rinsed out his mouth at least fifteen times until he was convinced he got rid of the last of Rai's disgusting, over-saliving and massive mouth germs, and then breathed in and out, calming himself down before he ended up losing his lunch on top of everything else. Nothing in his life so far are tramatized him more than being CPR'd by Rai, which was more like he was being kissed to death instead.

Ven and Isa were with him and both felt sorry for their friend. The former then shrugged with a helpless grin, saying, "At least it's over."

"Yeah, and next time, I'll take Rai's place to CPR Lea." Isa pointed out sarcastically.

Lea turned around to glare at the two of them, grunting, "Yeah, well, neither of you had to be slobbered on by o'l muscle-gross-so." cringing, "Gah, I never wanna do that ever again for as long as I live."

"Lea, the whole idea is that we all know that kind of skill so that if anyone ended up having breathing problems, we'd know what do to." Ven pointed out.

"I wouldn't recommend Rai passing the class. If anything, he'll do a better job in killing someone with those lips of his." Isa stated, crossing his arms.

"Are you trying to make my day worse, Isa?" Lea asked, groaning, "I'm gonna have enough nightmares tonight as it is. Now I'm ever so sorry for complaining to 'Lena."

"At least Melody doesn't need to worry about drowning." Ven shrugged, "She can turn into a Mermaid and breathe just fine."

The redheaded teen sighed, and muttered, "Yeah, lucky kid. But even she still needs to learn CPR, and I pray to god that she doesn't have to go through what I went through today. Or Elena."

"Or Aqua." Isa added.

"Or Anybody else." Ven added. The other two teens nodded in full agreement. He then said, "But then again, at least we didn't have Nature Class today."

"Yeah, I feel sorry for Donald and the others to cope with Mr. Jecht today." Isa smirked.

Lea groaned, and slumped, "Call me crazy, but I'd rather be on Jecht's Field Trip of Doom than slobbered to death by Rai."

"Look, why don't we go to the movies to get our minds off of today's...well, you-know-what?" Ven suggested, remembering, "I've heard that the new Pirates of the Caribbean 4 movie came out last week."

"Sure, I'm in." Isa shrugged.

"At this point, anything is worth in getting rid of the images stuck in my head right now." Lea agreed.

* * *

Back in the forest, a gray snake was reading a cook book, when the same pink snake that was nearly crushed into by Donald earlier appeared. And now we go right into...nah, just kidding. These guys, like Iago and Mushu, can speak human language.

"Ralph." said the Pink snake, who, out of the two, is a dimwitted one, "Ralph. A white guy nearly squashed me."

Ralph, the Gray snake, quickly realising that his companion messed up, smacks him on the head comically, yelling, "You buffoon!"

"What did I do? What did I do?" The pink snake asked, cluelessly.

Ralph then just continuously smacks his companion, calling him names for being an complete idiot, until he reminds him in annoyance, "Hey, Eddie." shaking Eddie's head, "That's why I had to put screws in your head, to make less a buffoon."

He then smirked evilly, almost chanting, "You see, We, are going to eat meat."

"We, are going to eat meat." Eddie repeated, then finally got it in his head, remembering, "Ok! I've got it now, Ralph." then jumped up and down as he followed Ralph who slithered away, "Lemme try again! Lemme try again! Please?"

Annoyed, Ralph smacks him away, and Eddie crashes into the trees(with sound effects of vases and glass breaking in the background.), then the former said, "Nah, you're too slow. Unlieable. You see, what we need is someone with, armor prechorus(imagines as being a super-snake), zip instantince(imagines as a street back snake), and stunning good looks(imagines as a model)."

He grins, concluding, "Someone like, moi." pointing at himself. Ralph then goes up to Eddie, telling him his new instructions, "Now, you go collect the Horse-Raddish Sauce, while I'll get the untensils ready for our meal."

"Horse-Raddish. Horse-Raddish." Eddie repeated to himself.

"And when you get back, all be ready, cooked and..." Ralph clicked his mouth for a declious taste, "Ready to smell home."

In excitement by these words, Eddie cried out happily, bouncing away to get the ingredents, "Oh boy! Oh boy, oh boy!" while Ralph into the opposite direction.

Little did the two know, that Mushu, who went off on his own for more clues, was hiding in the bushes and over heard the conversation. Once he was certain that he was alone, he bursted out from the bushes, exclaiming with a panicked and horrified expression, breaking the fourth wall to the readers/viewers, "I gotta warn the others!"

* * *

Meanwhile, while Donald was still trying to set up the practice traps, Goofy, worried about the small dragon, ventured into the forest alone, calling out to him, "Mushu! Oh Mushu!"

The small dragon didn't answer him, and it was making Goofy worried. "Gawrsh, Mickey, Terra, Zack and Cloud must've be done by now, and I bet Mr. Jecht is lookin' for me and Donald."

All of the sudden, something zooms past him, causing him to be spun around a few times, before stopping and regained his balance. Goofy then realised who rushed passed him and called out, "Mushu! Where have you been?" only to have Mushu jump and cling onto his chest.

"We gotta get outta here or they'll eat us!" Mushu cried out, letting loose water-works.

"Who?" Goofy asked, confused.

"THE SNAKES!" Mushu screamed.

Goofy froze at these words, then screamed comically, "We gotta warn Mickey and the others!" only to have both him and Mushu to be pulled up by a net that appeared not of nowhere and pulled up into the tree above, and then pulled away by Ralph who then hanged them over a boiling pot that was on a campfire, before the snake slithered away.

The two trapped friends realised what was happening, and clinged onto each other, and Goofy then screamed out as loudly as he could, "Help! Help! Mickey! Donald! Terra! Mr. Jecht!"

* * *

Donald eventually kicked the useless junk in frustration. "That does it! I give up!" he yelled out, crossing his arms in irritation, just as Mickey and Terra arrived.

"Hey, we have to head back." Terra told him, before looking around, and noticed the absence of two of their friends. "Where are Goofy and Mushu?"

But before Donald could reply, Goofy's cry for help echoed through the area, alarming them, "Mickey! Donald! Terra! Mr. Jecht! Help! Help!"

Realising their friends are in danger, Mickey cried out, "Goofy's in trouble! We gotta help him!"

"Follow that scream!" Donald declared, being the first to zoom in, with Mickey and Terra both quickly following, with ropes and such just in case they would have to encounter a snake.

They were careful to avoid the dangerous wildlife, and eventually found a clearing and a bizzure sight of a camp site, with Goofy and Mushu both perilously hanging over the pot like they were in a cannibal territory.

"Help!" Mushu cried out, "Get us outta here before we become stew!"

"Hang on, guys! We'll get you down!" Terra called up, and, with a bit of hesitation, he kicked pot forward which caused the hot liquid to spill out, while Mickey and Donald pulled at the ropes to lower their captured friends down. Once Goofy and Mushu were on the ground, their friends cut through the nets and freed them, and the two sighed in relief.

"Goofy! Mushu! What happened?" Mickey cried out, worriedly.

"The snakes captured us!" Goofy cried out, "They're ain't no normal snakes." in desperation.

"That's terrible!" Mickey cried out.

Donald, now angry that snakes had nearly killed his friends, "Well, I say, two can play at that game!" he said, before coming up with an idea on how to get revenge on the snakes. "I know." and gestured at the group to come closer and he whispered his plan.

* * *

Ralph was busy getting things ready for the easy meal, until he heard his annoyance companion's voice, "Ralph! I've got the Horse-Raddish, Ralph!"

When the gray snake turned to look, to his dismay, Eddie didn't get what he had in mind. Instead, he was holding a Raddish, "Here's a Raddish," before pointing at a very doofus looking horse, concluding, "And there's a horse."

On a verge of exploding in anger, Ralph could only grunt in sheer annoyance and sheer irritation. Can't that pink snake get anything right!?

* * *

Meanwhile, after school day was over for the day, Ven, Lea and Isa wasted no time in heading straight over to the theatres to get a glimpse of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But it was easier said than done, because apparently, today was adult day for theatres, which meant even teenagers weren't allowed unless they were accompined by a parent or adult guardian.

"This is problematical." Isa grumbled.

"Just when things couldn't get any worse today." Ven sighed. "So much for the movie."

Lea shrugged, then suggested, "We could try and convince the guy at the front to let us see the movie."

The two decided to try out his plan, so one at the time, they tried to talk their way through into seeing the movie. But no matter what Ven's kindness, or Isa's adult-toneness, or Lea's practical jokeness were said, all three were met with the same result(and three times, an bzzzt like a wrong answer botton bzz's in the background), the guy at the ticket booth just staring at them with a cold, blank and skeptical look and at the end, just silently and rudely jerked his thumb over to the side, in translation that said, ' _Beat it, kid_ ', and the three had to walk away in defeat.

"So much for that." Isa sighed.

Lea groaned in annoyance, "There's gotta be a way to get into the movie theatre to see the movie, or I'll go stir crazy over today's class!"

"Maybe we can sneak through the back and no one would notice?" Ven suggested.

The redhead immediately perked up with a grin, "Now you're speaking my language."

But when the trio stepped outside and found the back door to sneak in, Isa, Lea and Ven all tried to pull off the locks, but all slumped in defeat and all groaned in unison.

"Oh come on!" Lea cried out childishly.

"Plan C?" Isa asked sarcastically.

"Well, I'm running out of ideas." Ven sighed, "Maybe we'll see someone we know who can take us to see the movie. You know, an adult someone who can we can trust."

"Anything to see the movie, or my nightmares are gonna be so bad I'll end up staying awake for a week." Lea sighed, almost becoming desperate.

So the trio went back inside, and looked for anyone they would recongise, while Lea and Isa grabbed sodas, while Ven searched. So far, no luck. At this point, Lea was beginning to become overcome with despair, and whined, "Oh man...I'm gonna die by Rai's slobberness in my nightmares, I just know it!"

Isa rolled his eyes in exasperation and grumbled, "Lea, quit being such a baby. It's not like you're choking or anything."

But as if he predicted the future, a tall dark man, with a prickly short thin beard, who was among the adults, named Barret Wallence, was joking on the candy ball he tried to eat, but it got stuck in his throat. He began to cough and gag, alarming everyone.

"Someone help him!" A woman cried out.

Ven, hoping he knew what he was about to do in order to save the man's life, rushed over, "I'll help him!" and quickly wrapped his arms around the man's body, squeezing his chest as hard as he could while everyone else watched and Barret continued to cough, but then the older man could feel the candy ball go up his throat as Ven's squeezing. Finally, with a final squeeze and pull from the teen, Barret coughed and spat out the ball which flew into the air...right into Lea's cup of soda which landed with a small splash.

Cringing in disgust, Lea handed his now germed soda to Vanitas who, also having wanting to see a movie but was mildly disappointed over adult day, approached and stood next to the other two. Lea then said to the new kid, "Uh, here, you hold this."

"Oh. Thanks." Vanitas mindlessly took the cup from the redhead and, not realising what else was in it, just casually drank it, clearly not interested on what just happened. Lea and Isa, both seeing this, just stared at the black-haired teen in disgust and disbelief, not to mention horror.

Barret coughed while Ven patted him to comfort him, before the former sighed that he could breathe again, and turned to the young boy, saying, "Thanks, kid. You saved my damn life."

The blonde-haired teen just shrugged sheepishly, and replied, "I guess First Aid Class really helped." as his friends smiled at his heroics, then cringed again as Vanitas continued to sip Lea's germed soda, still not realising that Barret's gum-ball was still in it.

"Uh...guess Ven's a hero today." Lea muttered to Isa, hoping to avoid in saying anything about Vanitas's apparent upcoming funeral.

"Wonder how many people actually suck at First Aid?" Isa thought, dryly.

* * *

Back in the forest, Ralph was telling Eddie off over the stupid mistake, while having gotten rid of the horse and raddish, "Not a Horse and a Raddish! I wanted a Horse-Raddish sauce over the food plate!"

Shortly after this, they heard a whistle. To the two snakes' confusion, a resturant owner appeared, who is actually Mushu in disguise, and went over to a fake counter where Goofy and Donald were both pretending to be costumers.

"Hey, is life hanging you both down?" Mushu asked, in the act.

"Way down." Goofy slumped, in the act.

"You don't know how hard it is to find free meals." Donald added, also in the act.

"Oh really? Is it because the meals always tend to get away and you're starving out here to death?" Mushu questioned, this time to the snakes as if they were costumers as well.

Ralph's and Eddie's mouths began to water at this, as the former said, "Oh, looks like they just read my mind." and Eddie agreed hungrily.

Then, as if they were acting in a commercial, Mushu began, "Then let your tails down to the Carnivore Best Life Resturant!"

"Where a Carnivore is gifted to live a new best life! Ah-yhuck!" Goofy continued.

Donald then showed off fake moving small animals, "For a limited time to get all the meals you can ever dream off!" before he, Mushu and Goofy all jumped into a red car and drove up to the snakes, opening the door and offered them in, "That's right! Say goodbye to your forest days! Say goodbye to the days of starving, and say hello to the good life! Hello to all the good foods and good times!"

The Snakes, happily falling for it, slithered into the car, Ralph agreed, "Sounds good to me." and he and Eddie were driven up to the red building up on the cliff, and Mushu opened the door as the snakes slithered in.

As soon as the two snakes were in, however, as Mushu slammed the door shut, from the side of the fake building they, Mickey and Terra had built, quickly moved the large plank of wood from underneath the snakes, which the cliff lead right into the water, where the same Phirannas from before were waiting for their meal.

Ralph and Eddie both looked down once they saw what was going on, and, realising too late that they had no ground to support them, both screamed as they fell down right into the river. Outside of the fake building, Donald, Goofy and Mushu had waited and expected those screams. The moment they heard the splash, they raced up to the cliff and peered down along with Mickey and Terra who joined them.

The two Snakes were repeatedly bitten hard on by the small Phirannas, screaming and jumping in and out of the water, and just when they escaped from the fish, the same giant Phiranna with the Chainsaw appeared, and as the snakes screamed and dashed away on the water, the giant fish chased after them into the distance, none of them to be seen again.

Goofy then turned to the readers/viewers, breaking the fourth wall and said with his usual goofy smile, "That's what I call Fast-Food." and chuckled, causing Donald and Mushu to facepalm themselves hard, while Mickey also facepalmed, and Terra just slumped, skeptical.

* * *

Deciding to give up on the theatres, and that Ven was actually interviewed by a News Reporter for his heroics, he, Lea and Isa returned back to the Academy, where they met up with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Terra, Mushu and the rest of their friends and met up in Ven's room to watch the news, where Ven's interview was seen on TV.

"So you saved someone at the theatre today?" Zack asked, surprised.

"It was quick thinking." Ven shrugged sheepishly.

"Too bad our heroics against the Snakes today wasn't caught on TV." Mushu grumbled, and while Mickey and the others were only mildly disappointed, though they were proud of Ven's own heroics...

Poor Donald was the most disappointed out. He looked annoyed and grumbled, "Oh nuts."

At things things were alright again, but who knew what the next craziness would happen. Either way, as I said in the beginning of this chapter...Today would mark a day that would give a couple of students some nightmares for a while. Thankfully it only lasted for a couple of days.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: I know this chapter was random and rushed, but there are chapters I want to post that are once again more adventurous and somewhat serious but not too serious. This was just for random fun.**

 **Please continue your reviews, fellow readers, and I'll see you in the next episode.**


	8. Episode 8: Perfect Dates

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Just so you know...I suck at writing romantic scenes, since I'm not really romantic at heart. But I'll do my best.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 8: Perfect Dates.

"Why is everyone going all ga-ga all over town?" Grumbled an, as usual, annoyed Iago who was seated on the table in the cafeteria with Mushu who looked a little annoyed himself. With them, are Lea, Isa, Myde, Ven, Elena, Reno and Rude who ate their lunch...which for once, the students made up for themselves in a ways of sandwiches, considering how, when it comes to special things happening, the Cooks always end up turning the food into crap.

All around them, were either boys chatting away something about taking girls out, or some girls who are blushing on what kind of guy they would like to hang out. Pink streamers and pink-red heart-shaped decorations hanged from the ceiling.

"It's Valentine's Day this Friday. That's why everybody's going all ga ga, because they're hoping to proclaim their love or at least get a date." Myde answered.

"Eugh, great." Iago grumbled, "I forgot about that stupid holiday, where everybody goes all disgustingly romantic, and all," he then switched his voice into a fake high-pitched girly voice, "Lovey Dovey, the annual flowers and smooching everywhere." before returning to his normal, irrirated self, adding, "Pain in the neck, if you ask me."

"You're just saying that because you don't have a girlfriend." Lea pointed, "That's why there are nine of us here at the moment, because we don't have any dates either."

"You, Reno and Myde wouldn't even last in having a girlfriend for three minutes." Isa teased, earning a glare from both his best friend and his best friend's cousin, and even from Myde, while Rude smirked and chuckled.

"I don't think Iago would last for even three seconds." Ven couldn't help but tease, earning a chuckle from the others, and an annoyed glare from the bird.

"Funny, I don't see you having a girl friend like Terra and Aqua." Iago deadpanned, before gazing at Elena and added, "Her on the other hand, she might as well go over to Reno since she's the only girl in the group."

While Elena glared at the bird while blushing furiously, Reno snorted, and said, "Me'n'Lena? Yeah, right. Sure, she's cute and all, but she's not really my type." adding with a smirk, "Besides, I think she's already got someone else in mind, pity that he's got a full-time job."

"Reno, would you shut up?" Elena grumbled. In truth, she did want to go with someone, and that someone was Tseng. But the problem is, he worked for ShinRa, and despite how they liked each other since her disaster attempt to make dinner last year, and how he felt touched by her attempts, Elena didn't see him coming for Valentines Day, and on top of that, she was just a student of Radiant Academy. So, that's why she was hanging out with the bachulours, making her the only bachulette.

Ven shrugged, "Guess it's not my kind of thing, though Terra did tease me the other day that I'm old enough now to get a girlfriend."

"Ven, Ven, Ven, Ven, Ven." Lea shook his head, while placing an arm around his friend's shoulder, as if what he just heard was the saddest thing he's ever heard, saying, "What you need is some personal advice in how to become attracted to beautiful women in life. You can't just spend the rest of your life being single."

"Why not?" Mushu asked before Ven could, "Bird-Brain and I here ended up dead being singles."

Reno smirked and pointed out, mockingly-wisely, "Ah, but you both are no longer dead, so this means you both can get a chance in getting a girlfriend."

While Mushu slumped and pouted in defeat, Iago made a sisscors slice outward, saying to the redhead with goggles, "Forget it! It's bad enough that Genie found himself a girlfriend and the reason why he's not here now is probably because he's out trying to find her back in the desert."

This made the rest of them surprised, as Ven asked, "Genie had a girlfriend back in the Arabian Nights?"

"Yeah, a girl genie named Edea or whatever." Iago nodded, "Last I checked, her master accidently wished she would stay with her until she died. Now, in case you haven't noticed, but genie's have like, what, an immortal life-span. Now that Edea's master is up in the clouds for like, hundreds of years, you'll get to meet her for Valentines Day."

Reno, shocked by this, nudged Rude with his elbow, saying, "Rude, we seriously gotta catch up, fast. We're way behind in romance."

"...I'm fine with that." Rude shrugged. He couldn't understand what the big fuss was about. He told himself long ago, if he had a girlfriend, he wanted it to last for years on, in mutual trust, not just for 24 hours.

"Oh, don't give me that." Reno shook his head, "You're only young once."

"Like you can talk." Myde pointed out, "You only last with a girlfriend who you're not even interested in or who isn't even interested in you."

Before anyone else could go further into the conversation, to their surprise, a rather gloomy and sorrowed Goofy walked over with a tray of...whatever kind of slop the cafeteria, or as Reno would call it on holidays, crapeteria, served this week, and sat on the other side of the table, looking ready to cry in a heart break.

Iago, already getting the picture, rolled his eyes in annoyance, and grumbled, "Perfect. Another gloomy baculour joins the table of stupid jealousiness."

"Iago!" Ven scolded.

"No girlfriend for you either, huh?" Lea asked to Goofy who nodded sorrowfully.

"Everybody's got a girlfriend, including Mickey who has Minnie, Donald has Daisy, Terra has Aqua...*sniffles* Cloud as Tifa, Zack has Aerith...Squall has Rinoa..."

As some of the group took a bite from their lunch, or had sips of their milkshakes or sodas, when Goofy mentioned about Squall and Rinoa, Lea, Isa, Reno, Myde and Ven, in shock and caught off-guard, all nearly choked and spat out whatever was in their mouths and onto the table, and in Iago's and Mushu's disgusts, all over them. Even Rude and Elena stared in shock and disbelief, wordless.

"Oh, yuck!" Mushu cried out in dismay, wiping off the mixture of chewed food, drinks and saliva that was all over his scales.

"Eww!" Iago groaned in disgust, wiping off the same mess that was on his feathers. "Totally gross!"

"You're serious, right?" Myde asked, shocked, ignoring Mushu's and Iago's complaints. "Squall and Riona are..."

Goofy looked up at his friends in confusion, asking, "Didn't Cissnei tell you last year? Even the others know too."

The others shook their heads a "No", with Ven saying, "Not me."

"Huh, who've thunk?" Reno thought, "I guess Squall finally got that stick out of his ass. No wonder he hasn't joined us today either. Or last year as a matter of fact."

"He never joined us to begin with." Isa pointed out, shaking his head, "But still...wow."

"I'm...actually kind of happy for Squall and Rinoa." Elena said, with a small smile. "I say it's about them for both of them."

"Yeah, go figure." Lea grinned. "We're next."

Goofy became sad again at this, and continued, "Anyway...even Genie's got a girlfriend when he told me he was gonna go find someone named Edea and wouldn't...wouldn't be back until...Valentines Day!" at last, he began to cry and bawl his eyes out, tears pouring out like rain drops, like a true lonely bachulaur.

"Aw, Goofy..." Ven muttered, feeling sorry for his friend.

The others all nodded in agreement, and Reno sighed, muttering, "Yeah, no fun in not having a date at this time of year."

Iago on the other hand, slapped himself on the head, saying to Goofy as his sobs rendered into soft sniffles, "How can you cry like that? It's disgusting!" only to be flicked away when Goofy now became annoyed with the bird as well.

"Never mind Christmas Bah Humbug, Iago's an Romance Bah Humbug." Lea commented dryly, and the others all nodded in agreement.

* * *

The next couple of days went on normal, though those who still haven't found dates were a bit miserable, though those who didn't take Valentine's Day seriously just shrugged it off. Though in retrospect, Goofy was the most miserable of the lot, and it made Elena want to do something to help him, but she couldn't think of anything, no matter how hard she tried. But then again, she knew that she shouldn't interfere and that it was really Goofy's job in finding himself a date, but Elena felt that he won't be able to on time.

As she passed through the hallways of the lockers, the young blonde paused when a poster caught her attention. It said, "Valentine's Dance-This Friday". Elena had wished she could ask Tseng to join her, but that was unprofessional, she realised. Besides, he was ten years older than her, and she wasn't even a Turk yet.

"Hi-ya, Elena." A familiar voice said behind her. Elena turned around to see that Minnie and Daisy had joined her, as Minnie, who was the one to have spoken, asked, "Are you looking forward to the Dance this Friday?"

"I would, if I had a date." Elena admitted, "But right now, that's the least of my worries."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daisy asked.

Elena shifted a little uncomfortably, then decided to go out and say it, "It's Goofy. On Monday, he was crying because he hasn't got a date either. I feel terrible for him, and, yes, I know I should stay of it, but I want to help, but no matter what I do, I can't think of how to do it."

Minnie and Daisy looked at each other, both having had seen Goofy sad earlier for the last few days, and, despite how he was very close friends with Mickey and Donald, both of the girls could even see, he was feeling more left out than anyone else. But then again, despite that they wanted to help, as Elena said, they shouldn't interfere.

"Well, I wish we could help, Elena, but..." Minnie began.

"I know." Elena sighed, "I just feel so sorry for him."

* * *

By Thursday, Elena was driving herself nuts, to the point that she forgot about getting _herself_ a date. She can understand why Ven wasn't all that interested in getting a date yet. Poor Myde was hopeless, but that's nothing new, as it happens to him every year. Rude was far too shy. Reno was shameless, as was Lea. Isa just shrugged it off. Mushu ignored it, and Iago would just down-right complain until Valentine's Day was over.

So, she kept herself busy in helping with setting up the gym room for the Dance Party, which was tomorrow. Elena sighed after she set up the last of the roses in the net that would hang from the ceiling, via Daisy's advice since she was in charge this year, before taking a seat on the bench, hands under her chin and elbows resting on her knees.

Which seconds later, Clarebelle, a friend of hers, sat down next to her, and was in the same posture, sighing, "Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and I still don't got a date. It's the same every single year."

While a little surprised to see Clarabelle, who, like Goofy towards Mickey and Donald, was close to Minnie and Daisy, Elena couldn't help but let the comment register into her head. That's right. Clarabelle never had much luck when it came to Valentine's Day either, and like previous years, Elena failed to help her out in finding a perfect date.

Plus, as far as she could remember, Elena had heard rumors that Clarabelle actually had a crush on Goofy, but this was never confirmed or denied. Last year, though she was pretty certain that he probably forgot by now, but Goofy did mention he has a crush on Clarabelle, but had been too scared to approach her.

This is when Elena had an idea. So, she asked, "No date for you either, Clarabelle?"

"Yes, why?" Clarabelle asked, a bit surprised that Elena was talking to her. "Elena, I've been through this every year, and I knew that this year wouldn't be any different."

This made Elena smile a big smile, as she replied, "Actually, I think you're wrong this time around. Can I ask you something, and if it's the answer I think it is, then I think I might help out this time."

Clarebelle quirked an eyebrow in confusion, before asking, "Uh, sure? Go ahead."

After the young blonde-haired woman whispered what she had in mind, her friend's eyes widened, and for the first time all week, both of them wore huge smiles and the two shook hands. Now it was time to get to work.

All Elena had to do now was find and surprise Goofy.

* * *

It was Valentine's Day, and now the students and teachers and everyone gathered in the room. Even those who still didn't get dates were attending, just for the bit of fun of it, and for food and drinks and, in Lea's case, amusement to watch guys or girls who don't have a single clue in dancing but were forced to dance mess up and embarrass themselves. Iago and Mushu were at the table behind them, with the former still grumbling.

"Next year, remind me to go join the little kids in watching stupid Ice Age movie marathon." Iago groaned, standing near the good foods, but wasn't even allowed to go near until the party started, and he was starving, which added to his grumpy moods.

"Mind if I join you next year?" Mushu deadpanned.

"Hey, 'Lena. You seem to be in a good mood." Reno couldn't help but ask to Elena standing next to him. While she was stunning in her emerald dress that went down to just above her ankles, matching middle-heeled shoes, silver chained necklace with an emerald jewel handing, and her hair let loose, though she wouldn't looked better with short hair. Still, he didn't feel any sort of attraction towards her. She was his friend, and leave it at that. Elena was smiling, and Reno couldn't help but wonder what that was.

On the other hand, while he looked good looking in the uniform suit he was wearing, hair done as neatly as it could be, wearing a tie, he felt very uncomfortable, but ignored it. Reno then teased to the girl next to him, "Tseng comin' over after all?" and he was half joking, as some of the ShinRa staff, even, to his dismay, the President and his son were here, it wouldn't hurt that Tseng was here too. Especially after last year when Tseng and Elena started going out.

"Get real, Reno." Elena sighed, "I'm just in a good mood." in fact, secretly, she was quite pleased with herself. Things couldn't have gone better if she wanted.

While Mickey and Donald were off grabbing some Punch Juice for their dates, Goofy, for the time all week, was actually smiling himself, as he approached Minnie and Daisy who, also in beautiful dresses, as everyone was dressed in suits or dresses, were both near the large plants in pots.

"Say, ladies." Goofy said, "Can I ask you to keep this a secret?" as he looked handsome in a tuxedo suit himself.

"What is it, Goofy?" Daisy asked.

"I think I've finally found myself a date." Goofy answered.

"Really, who?" Minnie asked, surprised. When Goofy pointed into the direction, to her and Daisy's surprise, he was pointing at Clarebelle who was wearing a beautiful blue dress, and was waving lovingly at Goofy.

"Clarabelle?" Minnie said, surprised. She heard the rumors, but never thought the rumors were actually true.

"Better than no date." Daisy shrugged, dismissingly.

The lights then dimmed and the party lights flashed on, as Zell, who was the DJ man this year, turned on the music, and soon enough, some of the students who had dates began dancing with their dancing partners, while others just had nice conversations or ate food and had shakes and such. Terra, wearing a suit himself, twirling Aqua, who wore a gorgeus light blue dress and white long gloves, as she smiled at her boyfriend.

Cloud and Tifa smiled at each other with hints of blushes. Zack and Aerith were having the time of their lives. Squall, who never danced before, even got the hang of it himself and Rinoa smiled happily at her boyfriend.

Mickey and Minnie were holding hands and smiled happily, and Mickey then blushed when his girlfriend gave him a kiss on the cheek and he felt his body wiggle in bliss, going into ga ga land while they danced. Same thing happened with Donald as he danced with Daisy who did the same as Minnie did.

Goofy and Clarabelle were both having the time of their lives, as the two danced happily, which was noticed by Ven, Lea and the others who stared in shock from where they were standing. Even Iago and Mushu were shocked, as they spat out the drinks they were drinking in disbelief, speechless.

"Is that Goofy...with Clarabelle?" Myde stuttered, in shock.

"Since when did they get a crush on each other?" Lea blinked, shocked.

Elena was the only one who beamed a smile, and she felt so happy that Goofy and Clarabelle had finally found their perfect dates; Each other.

Ven then smiled himself, and nodded, "Well, I'm glad Goofy's got a date now."

"Yeah, 'bout time." Isa agreed, "If I had to hear him cry one more day, I'd end up screaming."

"Hey, Ven?" another voice joined them, and when they looked, Melody, in a beautiful yellow dress, walked up to Ven, and asked, a bit nervously, "I was just wondering...would you, like to dance with me?" much to the shock of the others, and even Elena's surprise.

Ven, blinking, felt himself blush, then smiled a little and nodded, "Sure, why not?" then bowed, holding out a hand to his friend, saying, "Milady?"

The half-mermaid-half-human girl beamed a smile and took Ven's offer, and the two stepped onto the dance stage and danced along with everyone else who were dancing.

"Whoa, today's getting more and more surprising." Lea admitted. To his surprise, soon, other girls walked up to him and his cousin and friends. Chelsea, whom Rude had a crush on, pulled him onto the dance floor, which the tall guy, who was usually shy, shrugged and even smiled at Reno's nod of encouragement. Soon enough, it appears that today was finally some of the group's lucky day. Myde joined up with a girl named Vanille who actually enjoyed his company and she was beaming happily.

Her friend, Fang, even went up Isa and asked him for a dance, which he accepted, though Lea looked a little jealous, but shrugged it off. The second redhead then noticed that Arlene looked a little miserable, and, considering how Reno didn't like her much, sighed and decided to 'sacrifice' himself.

"Hey, I'm gonna go ask Arlene. See ya." Lea waved off to the remaining for of his single friends, and approached Elena's cousin who, as he had to admit, looked stunning in her black dress.

When Arlene gazed at the incoming redhead, she rolled her eyes and grumbled, "What do you want?" though she had to admit, Lea looked dashing in his own suit tonight.

"Just so we're clear," Lea shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets, "I was just wonderin', Arlene. You...wanna dance?"

"Excuse me?" Arlene asked, quickly shocked.

"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to-" Lea didn't get to finish his sentence as the next thing he knew, Arlene grabbed hold of his arms and pulled him onto the dance floor, and began to, rather a bit embarrassingly, dance with her. But still, despite the two not getting on so well, she sure can dance. He couldn't help but grin, "I'll take that as a yes then?"

"Despite you being an idiot, at least you're a guy." Arlene grinned.

"Go figure." Lea grinned in return.

Reno chuckled as he saw his cousin dance with Elena's cousin, and said, "Wow, I guess those two are starting to get along."

"Yeah, that is very surprising." Elena admitted with a smile.

"Well, I guess it's just you, me, the dragon and the parrot." Reno sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets as well. He then grinned and teased, "I'd ask you to dance, 'Lena, but that would be extremely awkward."

"In your dreams, Reno." Elena rolled her eyes. "You probably don't know how to dance."

"Oh, come on." Reno laughed, "I so too can dance. It's just...not my thing, especially since my cousin is dancing with your cousin. You know what I mean?"

"Then I suppose this would mean I can her myself." a familiar voice joined them. The two students looked up and were surprised to see Tseng right there.

"Boss! I thought you weren't comin' at all." Reno exclaimed softly, shocked to see his future employer here.

"Requests by young Rufus." Tseng replied, smirking a little at his future co-worker's reaction, before gazing at Elena who was blushing heavily. "I apologuise that this is very sudden, but," he blushed a little himself, before asking, "Elena, would you care to join me?"

Elena's eyes widen, before she beamed a huge smile once more. Today was officially the best day she could ever ask for! She nodded and replied, "Y-yes, sir." and accepted his offer and, joined hands, the two also joined in others on the dance floor.

"Since when did she get a crush on that guy?" Iago asked, now more disbelieved than ever.

Reno grinned, answering, "Since last year, long before you two guys were sneezed up back to life." as he also noticed that Genie and his own girlfriend, Edea or something, were dancing happily as well. Finally, with a shrug, he turned around to get something to eat himself, saying, "Ah, well, just the three of us now."

Or so he thought.

"Reno?"

The redhead turned around, and blinked in surprise to see Cissnei there as well, looking...stunning in her yellow canary dress and pearls. The young woman giggled at his expression, and said, "You look dashing tonight."

"Uh...thanks." Reno muttered, before smiling warmly and said, "Ciss' you look amazing!"

"You think so?" Cissnei asked, blushing a little.

"Hell yeah." Reno laughed, then, seeing how she was possibly the remaining girl and the fact that she approached him, decided that today was his lucky day, and held out a hand, asking, "So, wanna dance?"

Cissnei giggled, and said, "I came here to ask you that and instead, you ask me."

Reno laughed, "So that's a yes?"

The young woman took his hand and allowed him to guide her to the dance floor, as the two joined in the fun, which, was much better than they or any of their friends thought. This year was so different for them, and they decided to make the best of it.

While Mushu was now emotional and teared up, Iago groaned in disgust, and shook his head, groaning, "Now I'm definately gonna join the little kids for the Ice Age movie marathon next year." only to have a cupcake shoved into his mouth by the annoyed dragon.

"Yeah, well, in ten years time, it'll be their turn to go dancin'." Mushu reminded, already picturing Sora, Riku, Kairi and the other children in their teens, on the dance floor like the others right now.

The parrot's eyes widened in shock, before he fell backwards and passed out.

It seemed that our students are really growing up, but they would still have many adventures through out this year and some other years to come. Speaking of which, who knew what would be coming next.

But until then, the students are enjoying the best Valentine's Day of their lives.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, not the best chapter out, but I wanted to leave the next biggies for future chapters later on as much as possible until I feel ready to put the next biggies into motion. As I said, I suck at romance, but I always felt that Elena and Tseng were meant for each other.**

 **Please continue your reviews, fellow readers, and I'll see you next time.**


	9. Episode 9: Twin Trouble

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: We see the slight return of Timon and Pumbaa from the last season, and two familiar villians, along with two new cast members who are, *spoilers* are the main protagonists of the upcoming Square Enix game that is releasing this year, and I'll give you a clue. "W... O. F... F...".**

 **Oh yes, and I've also added another familiar villian to add to the excitment...at least that's what I'm kind of hoping.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 9: Twin Trouble.

In the forest just outside of Radiant City, it was a peaceful spring morning. The Moogles that lived here loved this place and had thought that today would be like any other day...except for the time when the two human girls from the pink thing who caused bad luck and Ultimecia looked for it. But anyway, one Moogle went over to a small river that was ankle deep in human standards, and went to have a drink, when...

 _ **Zrooom! Splash!**_

Something, or someone, zoomed past the Moogle and was running on the water, causing the reaction of a splashing water all over the place, and unfortunately, the Moogle got soaked and wet by the impact, and only just stood there in shock, as it watched a Warthog run away with a Meerkat on his back. It was Timon and Pumbaa who were running away from someone, or something, depends on how you look at it.

"Run Pumbaa!" Timon cried out, panicking as his friend ran as fast as he could, "We may be cowards, but we're fast cowards!" as Pumbaa made a mad leap into the bushes and vanished, but both were still running away.

The Moogle continued to stand there, muttering, "Kupo?" before deciding to forget about what made the two that made him wet in the first place and shook himself to dry himself off. But when he was about to try again to cool his drying throat, he suddenly heard more yelling, and when the Moogle looked behind him, he screamed out before quickly flying away, as two men raced through but stopped in the small river, looking arounds, weapons in hand.

Two familiar men who...what!? What the hell are Max and Thor doing here!?

"Where'd they go?" Max asked, as he looked around.

"Oh! Ugh, they got away!" Thor grunted in sheer annoyance, before turning to his partner in crime and elbowed him on the shoulder, saying in anger, "I told you this was a stupid idea, trying to find a Warthog and Meerkat together was a waste of time!"

"Hey, they were our tickets to stay out of prison, which we just escaped from, thank you very much!" Max argued.

"Well I didn't waste three weeks to get out of the Turks' ville from Midgar!" Thor argued.

Oh, so that's how it was, huh?

Breaking the fourth wall, Thor turned to glare at the Authoress(me) and snapped, "Who asked you, you little piece of-!"

I'm going to spare Timon and Pumbaa and knock these two losers out so we can get on with the story. What do you guys say? So, I instantly pushed my hand into the other world like some gods would or whatever, and I whacked Thor so hard he went flying into Max, creating a chain reaction that caused them to fly away into the sky, allll the way back to Midgar and crash land into another prison cell which Lyle was currently using after he failed to escape. Crashing through the ceiling, the two hunters crashed and landed right on top of the blond-haired baffoon.

Now we can continue the story.

* * *

Meanwhile, two young people, somewhere between Melody's age and Ven's age, a boy with orangey blond hair, blue eyes, wearing a short-sleeved long coat with a black shirt underneath, navy blue pants an black boots, named Lann, and his twin sister, who had the same hair colour as him, but her hair was straight and long, and she too had blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless pink tank top, a black skirt-shorts, white socks and black shoes, anmed Reyne, were just arriving at an old cottage, while Lann looked at the map he and his sister had, both stopping near the forest.

"Um...I don't think this is the right place either." Lann thought, scratching his head in confusion.

Reyne sighed in exasperation, and then muttered to her twin brother, "Lann, we've stopped at this house three times already. How about you give me the map?"

"Aw, c'mon! I'm pretty sure this isn't the same house we've passed twice!" Lann protested childishly at his sister.

"Just face it, brother. We're lost." Reyne sighed, standing near a clothes line where clothing were hanged out in the sun to dry.

But before either of the siblings could continue their argument, all of the sudden, Pumbaa comes racing past them, causing both to stumble and fall to the ground. The Warthog in the meantime, accidently gets caught in the lines, causing both him and Timon to crash into the clothes and then once free from the lines, now covered in diapers and baby clothes, catapult themselves into the air and crash into another bush.

"Whoa! What the heck was that?" Lann asked, dumbfounded.

"I have no idea. But someone sure seemed in a big hurry." Reyne thought.

Within the bushes, Timon and Pumbaa were hiding, in hopes to avoid in being found by those pesty and annoying poachers, Pumbaa couldn't help but whisper, noticing what he was wearing, "Psst! Timon! I think I'm wearing diapers."

"Well, however it was, I think they're in the bushes." Lann thought.

His sister gazed at the bush, and she noticed a tail signs of movement, then she frowned and nodded in agreement with her brother, "Yeah, you're right. Let's check it out."

"Shh!" Timon shushed, while checking for any danger.

"But I haven't worn any diapers when I was a wee little tiny baby." Pumbaa continued, while keeping his voice down. Despite Timon's attempts to keep shushing him, the Warthog continued, also noticing the dress, "Hey, I'm wearing a dress too."

"Shush!" Timon continued, losing his paitence too quickly and starting to get angry.

"But I feel like a little pal..." Pumbaa muttered.

Finally having enough, Timon slammed his friend's mouth shut, while inadvertaly yelling out, "Pumbaa, be quiet! DO YOU WANT US TO GET CAUGHT!?" which unfortunately blew their cover, and two people bushed away the leaves to reveal them.

Realising his mistake, Timon was sweating nervously and waved scaredly while his face turned red, "Hello." before attempting to run away, but he and Pumbaa were cornered, and the two now clinged onto each other, shivering.

Though they then quickly realised that the two people cornering them were not Max and Thor, but two semi teenagers who were staring at the two, shocked and dumbfounded. Lann and Reyne then looked at each other, before looking back at the Meerkat and Warthog. Unfortunately, Lann was trying not to laugh, but at the sight of the two animals wearing diapers and dresses, he lost the battle and bursted out laughing.

"Lann! That's not funny!" Reyne scolded her twin brother, considering how she's usually the smart twin of the two and smacked him on the arm, but that didn't stop him from laughing hysterically.

Lann tried to reply, but in the end, he collasped onto his back in laughing that his cheeks were and sides were getting sore.

Reyne sighed in defeat, before turning to the two animals and despite knowing that they wouldn't understand her as she wouldn't understand them in different languages, she told him, "I'm sorry about my brother. Here, let me get those clothes off you guys."

And carefully as she did, Reyne took away the clothes from Timon and Pumbaa who, confused yet relieved that the young lady had helped them out, nodded their thanks and then took off. Once the two were gone, Reyne, with the clothes in her arms, turned back to her brother's who's laughing had finally eased off, and she sighed in slight irritation.

"C'mon, brother. Let's give these back to whoever lives here before we..." Reyne began only to trail off as she looked up and froze, her eyes going wide.

"Reyne? What's wrong?" Lann asked his sister, standing up, and when he followed her gaze, he also froze, as an old lady had just came out with a basket full of laundry, and she was now glaring at the two siblings and he could already tell, she came to a quick conclusion without asking.

"Uh oh..." he muttered. They're in trouble.

* * *

An hour later, as Reyne and Lann were both students of Radiant Academy, and having been assigned on a camping trip, were both forced to return to the school despite that they were telling the truth in getting lost and how they encountered the Warthog and Meerkat, and were now facing Headmaster Ansem who, despite hearing the students' story, he was not happy either.

"While I understand why the situation happened, I cannot forgo in how disappointed I am in both of you children." Ansem was saying, his elbows resting on the surface of his desk and hands clasped together, with a disapproving frown. "You should know better than to get lost."

"We're deeply sorry, Headmaster." Reyne muttered, in guilt.

"We didn't mean to have that happen." Lann added.

Ansem sighed, feeling a migrane forming. "Well, as punishment, you are to spend two hours in Xehanort's lecture, and because were both kicked out of the Nature Class, I want the two of you to take part in the upcoming school play. I trust this will not happen again?"

"Yes, Headmaster." The twins spoke in unison.

* * *

Three hours later, and Reyne and Lann were both in the Drama Class room with our heroes who, along with other students who were taking part of the next play, though none of them were looking forward to it, and the twins were locked in a heated argument.

To which Ven, Mickey, Aqua, Terra, Goofy, Melody, Donald, Lea and Isa all noticed and, along with Iago and Mushu who were both helping with the selections of plays, all gazed at each other, wondering how on earth this happened.

"Boy, those two must've screwed up to the point of arguing." Mushu thought, placing his hands on his hips in thought. "Wonder what happened?"

"Well, it's not easy in being a twin." Mickey stated, "Even though I never had a twin, I can tell that it's not easy, especially when the twins are a boy and a girl." shrugging.

"I remember babysitting little baby twins back in the ocean before I met you guys." Melody recalled, giggling at her own memory, "And despite them being adorable and little angels, they were such a handful. But you're right, Mickey. It's not easy in being a twin."

"Yeah, you try babysitting triplets. Nevermind twins." Donald pointed out, "I should know, because I'm stuck with Huey, Dewey and Louie."

Lea then chuckled and said, "Even though Reno and I are just cousins, we're both kinda like twins." only to rechieve skeptical glances from his friends who all quirked eyebrows at the redhead.

"Kinda?" Isa asked skeptically, before pointing out, "Lea, who are we kidding here? The way how you and Reno have so much in common and so alike, you might as well be twin brothers."

"Hey!" Lea pouted childishly.

"Alright, that's enough, boys." Aqua scolded gently in her mother-mode, before sighing and gazed at the argument of Lann and Reyne again, saying, "There has to be a way to stop those two from continuously fighting each other."

"Well, I heard that Lann got himself and his sister lost." Terra recalled, then quickly added when Aqua gave him a small glare, "But you're right. There must be something we can do."

"What? Find a way to have the twins quit their squabbling?" Iago asked in disbelief, then waved it off, saying in his usual non-caring tone, "Forget it! If anything, it'll do more harm than actually helping those two kids! Unless you cast both of them in starring roles for the stupid play, there's no way in a million years it'll make them apologuise to each other." which part of the sentence was in sarcasm.

However, hearing the words 'starring roles' and 'play' made Ven think and then an idea came up to him as an invisible light-bulb light up over his head. "Great idea! Even though it'll take a while to do this, we can have Reyne and Lann star in the play!" he said, gazing at his friends who gazed at him.

"Uh, heh heh, no offence, Ven, and, the idea is cool and all, but, what kind of story can these two take part in?" Lea pointed out.

"Gawrsh, we're still tryin' the find the right one for this year's play. Maybe we can look through the selections." Goofy thought as he went over to the table where Mushu and Iago were at. He then picked up a book script and held it up to show to the others when he found one that seemed appealing, "How 'bout _Into the Woods_?" holding up the cover of the old fairy-tale play which was a crossover world.

"Nah, too complicated." Terra shook his head, "Besides, do you see anybody dressing up a a wolf or something?"

Melody, who also went over to the table, found another book and picked up, asking as she held it up, "Why not Jack and the Beanstalk?"

The lamp in Ven's pockets then moved and Genie came out in pink smoke, and, as he had overheard the conversation, asked, "Ooh! Nice one, Mel'. Maybe I can add in some magic to shrink people or grow people into giants."

"No!" Mickey, Iago and Mushu all immediately shook their hands(Or wings in Iago's case) in unison with horrified expressions, still trumatized from their experiences from the Magic Mirror incident on New Year's Eve.

"Uh, no, Genie. That's not a good idea." Ven chuckled nervously. He could already picture in being shrunk down to size or anyone of his friends in that situation, or worse, being turned into giants. He was still freaked out of when Mickey was shrunk down to size months ago before the latter returned to normal.

"Okay, I think the only fairytale that can actually work around here, guys, is Hansel and Gretel, since they're brother and sister." Isa pointed out, stating the complete obvious.

The rest of the group were sheepish by this, and all chuckled in embarrassment. But then Lea remembered something and gazed at Mickey, asking, "Wait a sec. Didn't Mickey tell us the similiar story on Halloween last year? Ya' know, the one where I had a nightmare of."

"Lea, I was tellin' the story of _**The Sweet House of Terror**_ my grandpa used to tell me, not Hansel and Gretel." Mickey pointed out, a little annoyed.

"Well, the beginning sounded similiar." Lea shrugged.

" _ **The Sweet House of Terror**_?" Iago asked in annoyed disbelief. "What kind of a story is that? I wouldn't call it scary. Stupid is more like it! But not scary."

"Iago, you and Mushu weren't there that time." Terra pointed out, "And it was scary. But back to how to solve the problem with Reyne and Lann..." only to trail off when he and the others noticed that Reyne looked so angry that she screamed out in anger, before storming off, seemingly just having a tantrum, and Lann looked...shocked and hurt.

Melody cringed, muttering, "Uh, I think Lann said something silly that made Reyne upset."

"I'm sure it'll work out in an hour or two." Ven tried to say optimistically.

Genie on the other hand, looked doubtful as his eyes followed Reyne storming out of the classroom, stating, "Ooh, I don't know, Ven. That's one mad li'l lady."

Iago, as if he knew this would happen, smugly said, "See, what'd I tell ya? You guys didn't even do anything and already it's gotten worse."

"Don't you ever get tired of making fun on other people?" Mushu said in sheer annoyance at the bird. "It's starting to become more like an insult here, man."

"Oh come on." Iago pointed out, "It's like how a guy gets tired of one girl and goes for another when it comes to beauty, and I've seen guys do it. Heck, I've done it..." he paused, before exclaiming, "Several times!"

"Iago!" Aqua and Terra both yelled.

The parrot shrugged when everyone was glaring at him, "Hey, I got a problem with commitment. I admit it."

"Well, I guess the best thing to do is work our way around the situation to help Lann and Reyne. Otherwise things are gonna get really complicated around here." Ven thought, folding his arms to his chest.

"Okay, why don't you boys go and talk to Lann, while us ladies go talk to Reyne and see if this will work in working out the problem?" Melody suggested.

"Good idea, Melody." Mickey agreed.

"Bad idea, more like it." Iago grumbled, only to have Genie to magically type his beak shut with bandage. The parrot muffled angrily while glaring at the magical being who whistled innocently, acting like he didn't do anything.

Lea sighed, before whispering to Isa, "Ya' know, I'm sure glad I don't have a twin sister."

"Me too." Isa whispered in agreement.

Just then, much to everyone's confusion, they first then jumped in fright as first Reyne's scream was heard from outside of the room, then a loud crash, with glass breaking, and then finally, the alarm goes off.

"What in the world?" Braska asked.

Lann, who quickly forgot his argument, cried out, "Reyne!" and without anyone else saying anything as they all turned to see what he was about to do, he races out of the room.

"Lann!" Braska cried out, but the student did not listen to the teacher.

"Sounds like trouble! C'mon!" Ven declared, immediately rushing to see what is going on. Mickey, Lea, Donald, Isa, Goofy, Mushu, Genie, Melody, and even both Terra and Aqua raced out to see what was happening.

"What's going on?" Tifa cried out, but she didn't get an answer or a reply straight away.

* * *

"Let me go, you creep!" Reyne screamed as she struggled to break free from the gasp a creepy looking man who looked like an evil clown, who held Reyne's arms to her back as he was holding a lock grip on the girl. "What do you want from me?" she cried out.

"Oh, I thought I'd use a little twin girl such as you, for a special kind of experiment." The evil clown chuckled manically, "And the name is Kefka, not creep." before growling a threatening tone, "Now you'd better behave, missy, or I'll have to teach you a lesson." as he was dragging her to the corridor in the right towards the back emergancy exit.

Just as Lann raced around the corner and saw his sister being dragged away, and he quickly raced up, yelling out, "Hey, hands off my sister, creep-show!"

"Lann!" Reyne cried out, now even more desperate to escape.

"Who? What? When, where, why?" Kefka asked, before telling the boy, "Can't you see that I'm busy here? Now run along, boy." just as Ven and some of his friends arrived, to which Genie had provided the red magic carpet to make the trip faster and a made it a bit bigger and stood around Lann. Kefka groaned in annoyance, "And would'ya know it? More brats arrive. Go on, scram!"

"Who's this creepy clown?" Lea asked, blinking.

"Yeah, you got the creepy part right." Mushu cringed.

"Let Reyne go right now!" Ven yelled at Kefka, as he, along with Aqua, Terra and Mickey, glared at the evil clown.

Kefka wasn't fazed, and instead, laughed manically, and it was so loud that the group almost had to cover their ears at the horrible noise, which was also somewhat high-pitched, before holding up his right arm into the air while he was holding Reyne captive in the left hand. To the group's shock and horror, they quickly realised he was an evil sorcerer because his right hand glowed and it formed a circle which grew bigger into the size of a giant mace, before throwing it towards the group who all cried out in alarm.

"Giant mace alert!" Goofy screamed hysterically, while he and Donald clinged onto each other in fear.

"Reyne!" Lann cried out, attempting to reach his sister, only to have Terra, Mickey and Isa grab hold of him by the shoulders and drag him onto the carpet.

"No!" Reyne screamed.

"Genie!" Ven cried out, and while he and his friends on the red carpet quickly escape, Genie rolls off the carpet and turns into a catcher with a baseball glove...only to have his head bashed away, while the giant mace, under Kefka's control, chases the group through the halls of Radiant Academy which was on the higher level of the building. They avoided in returing to Drama Class, but were still in trouble.

Reyne was horrified on what was happening, and closed her eyes in guilt, thinking to herself, ' _This is all my fault._ ' as tears of frustration slid free.

* * *

Ven and the others in the meantime, were still trying to escape while passing through corridors, as the giant magical mace continued to chase after them. Others on the same floor who had also heard the alarm, all had to dodge out of the way to avoid collision. Zack, Cloud, Reno and Rude were the latest ones to avoid the collision.

"What!? Where'd that Mace come from?" Zack cried out.

"Wasn't that Ven and the others?" Cloud asked, shocked.

Reno, having also seen the others, including his cousin, was horrified and cried out, "Lea, no!"

In the meantime, Mushu looked back and was horrified that the mace was getting closer and closer. He tapped Terra's back, muttering scaredly, close to screaming, "Uh, fellers? It's gaining!"

The others also looked and saw the mace was getting closer, then looked at each other, before looking forward again, desperately trying to figure out what to do. Ven then saw something ahead and cried out, an idea forming, "Guys! There's a window!"

"Yeah, but really _small_ window!" Lea cried out, panicking himself, knowing that there's no way they'd all fit through safely.

"C'mon, we'd better squeeze together!" Mickey cried out, bringing everyone as close as he could, "It's our only chance!"

But then sudden, Genie, with his head back on his body, poofed onto the carpet, startling the group, before asking, "Sorry, lost my head. What's the update?"

"Mace! Dead end!" Iago answered in three simple words, practically screaming by now.

Looking behind at what Iago pointed first, Genie realised in horror that the bird was right and, comically(Disney style), his eyes bulged out in a silent scream in shock and horror. He then grabs the carpet's tassels and folds the group into a little ball, going faster and zipped through the window, before returning the group back to normal as they fly out of the building. Iago and Mushu both screamed.

The mace in the meantime, comes crashing through the window and making a hole in the wall, still attempting to catch the group. Genie then flies up before turning himself into a golfer, aiming with a golf club, "Four!" and then whacks the mace which loses the magic and it flies away into the sky, disappearing to who knows where.

The group, seeing this happen, all sighed in relief. "Phew! Safe at last." Donald sighed.

"But we still have to save Reyne." Aqua pointed out.

Lann, despite that they were safe, couldn't help but grunt as guilt formed, "Reyne got captured, all because of me!" clutching at his fist, not certain if he wanted to punch the carpet surface or not. He was angry with himself. If he hadn't gotten himself and his sister in trouble and hadn't caused an argument, Reyne wouldn't have been captured by the creepy evil clown sorcerer in the first place.

"Don't take all the blame, Lann." Melody pointed out, hoping to make the boy feel a bit better. "We'll get Reyne back."

"She's right." Ven agreed, "And plus, if he hasn't used whatever magic he used to go to places, he can track him down and save Reyne."

"But the question is, why would anyone kidnap Reyne in the first place?" Mickey thought, frowing at the situation, as Genie rejoined the group.

It wasn't until Isa then spoke up, having remembered something, "Now that I think of it, I think I've seen that guy before, but I forgot about him until now."

"Well, who is he?" Goofy asked, shrugging.

The blue-haired boy frowned in concern, as he answered, "Kefka. A criminal inventor who is insane and likes to destroy things out of habit. He also has sorcerery magic and has been causing problems for ages. I've read it in the newspaper last week."

"Well, do you know where he could go, Isa?" Lea asked urgently, "Details, man."

Isa sighed, "Sorry, but I have no clue."

Lea sighed dramatically, "Figures."

"I have an idea." Mickey perked up, then gazed up to their magical friend and said, "Genie, we're gonna need a phone book. Surely even some bad guys have apartments and adresses."

"Good thinking, Mick'!" Genie replied, before magically making a phone book appear and handed it over to Mickey who went through several pages quickly before finding the letter K list.

"Hmm, let's see..." Mickey read, with the others also looking, "Ked, Keddy,..." until he quickly found Kefka's name, "Ah! Here is it! Kefka. On 777th Mountain Street, west of Radiant City." which it also had his phone number and adress.

"Garwsh, sounds kinda far." Goofy thought worriedly.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about, with the semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers handy, it's like walking down easy street!" Genie pointed out happily.

"Yeah, and we'll have to fix up the school when we get back." Terra reminded, gazing back at the hole where the small window used to be, cringing at the damage. Everyone else noticed and all cringed.

"For the record, I blame the Warthog and Meerkat for this." Lann grumbled.

* * *

In the said Mountain street, which really, was just a small house outside of town, shaped a like mountain, Kefka, who indeed used his sorcerery to teleport himself and Reyne to here, had imprisioned the girl in a cell near his experiment table, as he then began to make preperations with some sort of machine, before laughing manically, exclaiming, "It's finished!"

Moving away, Kefka revealled...a red box with a green button that said start, and a red button that said stop.

"What's that? A box with start and stop on it?" Reyne asked, dumbfounded.

"This, little girl, is an explosive device that will, by only the hands of the female twin, shall push either button that will destroy Radiant City in a flash!" Kefka said evilly. Then sighed and admitted, "Though to anyone else, even to a male twin, it's just a cardboard box that can easily be smashed and destroyed, not harming even those who destroy it."

Reyne's eyes widened in sheer horror at this, before attempting to back away into the corner to prevent herself in being forced into pushing the button that would destroy Radiant City, and without a doubt, kill everyone in it. "I don't want to do that!" she cried out.

"Well, I'm afraid you don't have much a choice, girly." Kefka grinned evilly, as he is about to make his way towards Reyne's cell. "Where's the fun in life if nothing is destroyed?"

"Hey, Creepy Clown!" A familiar voice called up. In now irritated confusion, Kefka, along with the surprised and now relieved Reyne, Lann was standing in the doorway up the small flights of stairs, with Ven and Terra standed by him, and Iago and Mushu both hiding behind the trio. It was Lann who spoke up, and he continued, glaring almost dangerously at Kefka, "I want my sister back."

"If it's not too much trouble." Terra added.

Little did Kefka know, his plan was overheard, as while Lann, Ven, Terra, Iago and Mushu were distracting the evil clown, Aqua, Melody and Donald were silently gathering ropes to secretly tie up Kefka. Mickey, Lea and Isa crept over to the device, which, true to Kefka's words, to anyone else, it was just a cardboard box. Goofy in the meantime, crept over to Reyne's cell and he silently shushed her so that he could get her out.

"And why would I do that? With my fabulous device, you and all of Radiant Garden will be history." Kefka declared, smirking.

"It looks more like a cardboard box if you ask me." Ven pointed out.

"It's meant to be, because to those who are not female twins, it is a cardboard box." Kefka pointed out, now getting impaitent, "Now, don't make me blast you all into smithereens!" holding up hand, which, as the group noticed by now, on his right hand, it was a guanlet that was silver with a blue gem on the back.

Iago, seeing this, muttered fearfully, "Uh oh. This is gonna be bad."

He then raised his hand, which caused parts of the floor to crumble, which the impact caused the others except for Goofy to be flown back and crash near the wall. Kefka laughed evilly as the parts of dirt formed into a giant fist, as he declared, "How would you like to eat dirt?" laughing manically.

"Told ya it was gonna be bad!" Iago cried out. He, Mushu, Ven, Terra and Lann all quickly dodged the fist as it slammed at them, but it missed. The five of them then hid behind one of the test tubes, where Mickey and the rest of the group, except Goofy who was trying to unlock the cell, were hiding.

Goofy tried a lockpick, but it snapped in half. He tried a pair of sissors, but they crumbled like glass. He then tried to saw the bars with a Saw, but it bent the blade instead. Then tried to melt it with a fire tool but that didn't work either. He then tried a driller to make a hole underneath the bars, but unstead made a hole underneath him and fell into it.

How he managed to even get these items when they're not even in this place? Even I don't have a clue.

Kefka used his guanlet to command the dirt-fist to attack again, but just when it was about to reach the group, all of the sudden, it was held back by Genie who appeared, having made his right hand larger, while sitting casually. "Hey, Ven. Need a hand?" he greeted, before going into a fist fight with Kefka.

"I gotta get to Reyne, and fast!" Lann whispered.

"And we gotta destroy that device." Terra added.

"But how? Kefka could attack us while he's fighting against Genie." Aqua asked, worriedly.

"There's gotta be a way." Ven grunted.

Goofy, now irritated, grabbed hold of the cage doors bars, and pulled as hard as he could, grunting, "C'mon and open, you mangy, cage doors!"

"Goofy, be careful!" Reyne said worriedly.

Despite his attempts, too much force of trying to pull it open, caused Goofy to accidently let go and launch himself into the air and towards the table where the device was, as he screams his trade-mark yell, "YAA-HOO-HOO-HOOEE!" and when he crashed into the table, he landed right on top of the device, accidently also breaking the wooden table in half while squashing the box flat with his weight.

"Goofy!" Mickey and Donald both cried out, and the two of them, Aqua and Melody quickly rushed over to see if their friend was alright. Finally having a enough, Lann raced towards the cell, despite the others's protests. While the male twin now worked on getting his now relieved sister out, Ven, Terra, Lea, Isa, Iago and Mushu could only watch worriedly, until Lea decided to help and he, along with Isa who had the same idea, and Mushu, all rushed to help Lann, and Ven noticed the guanlet and an idea formed in his head.

"Okay, I'm gonna get that glove off of that guy. You guys help out Genie and distract the clown." Ven whispered.

"Me?" Iago asked, shocked.

"Got it, Ven." Terra nodded in agreement. As Ven quietly waited while slinking towards to the right, waiting for his move, Terra and Iago both rushed out of their hiding and stood near Genie who was pushing hard, both him and Kefka struggling to over power each other.

"Hey, Kefka!" Terra called up, once he also noticed how Goofy had did.

"Ugh, can't you see that I'm busy, brat?" Kefka grunted, now extremely annoyed and struggling.

"Uh..." Iago began, scaredly, "Just for the record, your cardbox is squashed like a cardpancake." shivering.

"Oh, is that all?" Kefka asked stupidly, but then realised what the parrot meant, and quickly turned his head, stuttering in disbelief, as Mickey and the others helped Goofy up, and the evil clown babbled, "Wait-he-wha-WHAT!?"

Seeing the distraction, Genie then reached out his left hand and began tickling Kefka who, being ticklish, laughed controllably. This was the distraction Ven needed, as the teen then rushed forward and preformed a bodyslam he learned during swordsmand class and slamed into Kefka who by now lost all control and was shoved onto the ground. Genie then quickly uses his magic to make the dirt disappear before it could harm his friends.

As quickly as he could, Ven then grabbed hold of Kefka's right arm while keeping him pinned, before he managed to yank the guanlet off and then tossed it towards his friends, calling out, "Terra!"

The guanlet landed and scattered in front of the older teen who immediately stomped onto it, destroying it instantly, much to Kefka's horror. Lann, Lea and Isa in the meantime, had finally broke into the cell and Reyne came rushing out, throwing her arms around her brother in a hug, as he hugged her back.

"Why you insolant infidiels!" Kefka grunted angrily as Ven quickly got back up and rushed back to his friends, "You will pay for this!" only to be cut off when Genie then used his magic to chain, tie and gag him. Now that the guanlet was destroyed, he couldn't use magic.

"That'll teach you to mess with the students of Radiant Academy!" Mickey smirked.

"Nya nya nya nya nya nya!" Iago taunted childishly.

"You mess with Radiant City, you mess with us, pal." Mushu added.

Kefka could only muffle in sheer anger and glare at the group, knowing that he lost and was easily defeated by teenagers, a genie, a bird and a small dragon. He will get them and get his revenge. Someday.

"Thanks for saving me, guys." Reyne sighed in relief, before turning to brother and apologuised, "Lann...I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's okay, sis'. I'm sorry too." Lann smiled in return. "I guess I need to work on my navigational skills." earning a giggle from his sibling.

The others smiled at this, though Iago was rather surprised by this, as he admitted, "I can't believe they managed to sort things out in just on day."

Lea grinned, as he said, "Ah, I knew things would work out with those two."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Welp, let's head home and call the Turks so that Kefka can be locked away." Mickey suggested, and the group nodded in agreement.

* * *

The group had returned to the Academy where Genie quickly fixed the damages with his magic, and the Turks had taken Kefka to prison. Lann and Reyne had gotten over their bickering and to their surprise, thanks to the suggestions of Mickey and the others, were casted for main roles for the next play of Hansel and Gretel.

A week later, the show went on, and while some of his friends preformed their roles, behind the curtains, Ven smiled, and whispered to himself, "Yep. Things worked out just fine."

Though who knew when the next crazy adventure will happen. But even so, only time will tell.

* * *

To be Conti-

Suddenly, the image freezes and Hades appears glaring at the Authoress(Me) and the readers/viewers, exclaiming in sheer annoyance, "Hey, when am I going to be in this series!?"

"Uh, what?" I asked.

"I mean, come on, sister! You brought two guys back from the dead and...there's no mention about me!" Hades continued to rant.

"That's because I haven't gotten that far yet, and plus, I'm considering it, but seriously, Hades. Get a grip." I told the Lord of the Dead.

Hades growled, "You're talking to a god here, missy!"

"Yeah, and?" I shrugged, "Anyway, I'm ending the chapter now, so, no more interruptions!" and before Hades could say anything, I put him to sleep and returned the image back to where the episode just ended.

To be Continued...for real this time.

* * *

 **A/N: I had to break the fourth wall again. Again, not the best chapter in the world, but I try my best. And yes, despite the game haven't been released yet, Lann and Reyne from World of Final Fantasy make their appearences here.**

 **Please continue your awesome reviews, fellow readers, and I'll see you again in the next chapter.**


	10. Episode 10: Sleeping Goofy

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Sorry that it's late. Writer's block, been busy with studies, moving furniture, and a lot of things happening for the last almost two weeks. But I'm back!**

 **Now, this episode is...well, it's embarrassing to say, but let's just say that some people have trouble sleeping and others have trouble staying in bed while asleep. These ideas are both from Disney property.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 10: Sleeping Goofy.

It was in the middle of the night in Radiant City, and pretty much everyone was sleeping. Well, almost everyone, but at the same time, some people weren't even in bed. Actually, it was just one student what wasn't in bed, but even he didn't know it. In the hallways of the Students courters, Goofy's apartment door opening, and Goofy himself was walking out, night gown, night hat, slippers on, but there was also something else that was a problem on why he was coming out of his room in the middle of the night.

His eyes were closed and he was snoring. Goofy, obviously sleep-walking and unaware of this, held out his arms and began walking through the hallway almost like a hypnotised zombie. Who knows where he was going in his sleep-walking daze.

* * *

Meanwhile, Goofy wasn't the only one having sleeping problems. In Ven's room, Ven was thankfully in his bed, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't sleep at all, no matter how he tried. His alarm clock ticked at 1:15 AM in the middle of the night and he was still wide awake, trying to get to sleep. Genie so much went to help him by having shrunk himself into Mary from the Nursery Rhyme and magically made sheep appear, jump over Ven's face while the boy counted and then made them disappear.

But even that wasn't working.

"...1,006...1,007...1,00..." Ven sighed as he counted, before finally giving up and sat up, rubbing his head and grumbled, "I'm not falling asleep, Genie. Isn't there anything else we can try?"

Reverting to his normal size and self, Genie then created a book and read through it with his friend, "Let's see what the Genie's Book of Home Remedies says." flipping through the pages to find the right answer, "Hmm, black goat's bone twice boiled at midnight… Eye of newt, spleen of censor..."

It wasn't until he finally found a seemingly safe one and communtried, "Aha! Most exotic of all forbidden sleep potions. The dark and arcane secret whispered about only among the most powerful sorcerers:" he paused dramatically before concluding, "Warm milk!"

While Ven blinked dumbfoundedly, since everyone pretty much knew that warm milk would help in getting people to sleep if they had trouble, Genie seemed to have forgotten that basic knowlage and instead went out of his way to create a glass of milk on a bunsen burner as it boiled the dairy liquid.

Once it was done, he sticked his pinky finger into it, but no more than a 2.5 seconds later as it was so hot he bright red, his eyes bulge right out, and he starts bouncing all over the room, screaming comically, while Ven shielded himself to avoid in getting squished by Genie's over-dramatic trauma.

* * *

Apparently Ven wasn't the only one awake, as Pete came out of his room, but rather in his Pj's, he was wearing full black and was sneaking through into the kitchen, as he approached the fridge and was stealing some of the good food from the cafeteria, when he heard someone behind him and yelped, hiding the food behind his back. He cringed when he saw Goofy walking in.

But when he noticed that Goofy's eyes were still closed and that he was walking like a zombie, Pete realised what this meant and snickered. "Perfect." and went over to grab hold of Goofy before damping the latter's hand in tomato sauce and made a Goofy-hand print on the fridge before washing it and then carried the sleep-walking Goofy back to his room before retreating back to his own room.

* * *

Back in Ven's room, Genie lands onto the floor, back to normal and muttered to himself, "Trifle hot." as if his drama-king moment never happened. Turning his hair into a fan to cool off the warm milk a little, he then hands the glass over to Ven who drank it, and sighed, as it seemed to help already.

"Ah, that's better." Ven said, starting to feel drowsy, and layed back down and yawned, "Thanks, Genie." and about ten minutes later, he was out like a light.

Genie was surprised by this, as he cleaned off the empty glass and whispered to himself, "Gee, works better than I thought!" before retreating to the lamp to sleep himself.

* * *

Early next morning, around 6:30 AM, Ven was fast asleep peacefully. Until Mushu, who was up bright and early, set the alarm half an hour earlier and it rang loudly, causing the teen to jerk up slightly, tiredly having his vision clear, to see a smiling Mushu on his shoulder.

"All right, rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty! C'mon, hup, hup, hup!" Mushu said, tapping Ven's head before jumping off when Ven curled back into bed, only for the small dragon pulled the blanket off completely, leaving the blond no choice but to get up and he stretched tiredly.

"Get your clothes on, get ready! Got breakfast ready." Mushu said happily, going up to his friend again, and holding up a bowl to the student. "Look, you get porridge! And it's happy to see you!"

When Ven looked at the porridge, and he quirked an eyebrow, still half-asleep. The porridge had two eggs that acted as eyes and a bacon that was curled up into a smile, making a happy face.

Suddenly, Genie, who had turned himself into a beatle, popped out of the porridge, smiling, until Mushu, quite annoyed, used chopsticks to pick up Genie and threw him out, shooing, "Go on, get out of there! You're gonna make people sick!" before stuffing Ven's mouth with the porridge, eggs and bacon.

Let's just hope Ven doesn't get sick this morning.

* * *

About two hours later, our heroes had gathered in history class, as their teacher, Miss Vanille had just walked in to adress the class, before saying, "Alright, so everyone is here except for Goofy, yes?"

Just seconds after she said this, Goofy himself barged in, before tripping against a bucket near a mop and slid too fast to the other side of the room, screaming his trademark scream, "YAH-HOO-HOO-HOOEEE!" before crashing right into the wall, and the other students, including Ven, Mickey, Donald, Lea, Isa, and a young fifteen year old girl with raven hair with matching eyes and clothes in almost complete black all cringed, some of the students muttering in sympathy, "Oooh/Ow."

But as usual, Goofy was fine, as he sat next to Ven, shrugging as he apologuised to everyone in the entire room, "Sorry. Slept through my alarm clock."

"That's perfectly alright, Goofy." Vanille giggled. "Now then, let's begin class."

However, just as the class were about to begin, the intercom crackled to life, and a voice could be heard, as Headmaster Ansem spoke through the speakers, "Attention, students; Goofy Goof, I want you in my office now."

Everyone's eyes widened in confusion, as most of them eyed Goofy who looked nervous, before shrugging, muttuering, "I don't know what I did." before standing up and made his way out of the room to head over to the headmaster's office.

"Wonder why Goofy is being called to headmaster Ansem's office?" Mickey asked, more to himself than to the rest of his friends. As far as he knew, Goofy rarely got himself into trouble in being called into the office. It was mainly Pete that got into trouble pretty much all the time, and once probably every three or four weeks, Lea, Reno, Isa and Terra would end up being in trouble as well.

"Maybe he accidently killed the headmaster's goldfish." Lea jokingly grinned.

"Gimme a break, Lea." Isa sighed, "The headmaster doesn't have any fish."

"Something's up, and I wish I knew what it was." Ven thought.

* * *

It was morning tea when the students had their break and Ven and the others haven't seen Goofy yet since the near beginning of history class, and were beginning to worry, though they suspected that whatever happened, as Lea had theoried, poor Goofy was in the, as he and Reno would call it, "Xehanort's torture chamber of lectures", for whatever reason. Iago and Mushu had joined them since they were hungry.

Reno then came seconds later and sat down with the others, which propted Lea to ask his cousin, "Yo, Reno. You've seen Goofy this morning?"

"Wha?" Reno held a somewhat surprised expression, "You guys don't know?"

"Know what?" Ven asked, confused, as were the others.

"Apparently Goof' snuck into the kitchen and snatched some of the cafeteria food last night." Reno explained.

The others were shocked, as Mickey cried out, "What!?"

"Yeah. It happened around 1:AM last night, and to prove it, they discovered his hand print on the refridgerator in ketchup." said the redhead.

"Never knew Goofy would do that." Isa thought. "That explains why he slept through his alarm clock this morning."

"I can't believe Goofy would do this." Ven thought, troubled. "I mean, I had trouble sleeping last night, so I guess Goofy must've been hungry and tired."

"I can't believe it. How could he do this?" Donald thought, clearly disappointed in his clumsy friend.

Mickey on the other hand, thought something wasn't right with the story, and frowned. "Wait a minute. Goofy said he always has a good night sleep, and he only remembers dreams the next morning, not when he wakes up. This is the first time this sort of thing has happened."

All of his friends with him at the moment thought about it and realised he was right. Goofy was a good sleeper, not once having trouble actually getting to sleep, because he was, well, goofy.

"Unless Goofy's starting to pick up on Iago's mid-night treasure habits." Mushu supiciously thought, jerking a thumb at the said bird who was eating grapes, but when Mushu mentioned about him, Iago spat out the food in shock, then glared at the miniture dragon.

"What? And have him have trouble sleeping at night?" Iago asked sarcastically, before he imitated Goofy's voice, saying, "Gawrsh, I couldn't sleep last night." then returned to his normal voice, and rolled his eyes, "Please. Cry me a river."

Reno rolled his eyes and sighed, "Come on, be serious. I'm not saying that I believe this myself. I just find it weird on how or why Goofy would've done this. I snuck into the kitchen earlier to talk to him since he's been punished to wash the dishes for two weeks and take Xehanort's lecture classes for a week, and he honestly told me that he didn't even remember doing anything like that. All he remembered was going to bed last night and fell asleep."

He then looked around before adding, "I even looked into his eyes and I saw that he was tellin' the truth."

"Hmm...well, Goofy never lied." Mickey agreed.

"'Course he didn't." Lea pointed out, "No offence, but Goofy's lies stink."

"Then I guess there's only one thing to do." Ven decided, as he stood up with determination. "We'll guard the kitchen tonight and see whether Goofy has anything to do with this."

"Good idea, Ven." Mickey said, happily.

"What!? I'm not gonna do any night-guarding!" Donald exclaimed, holding up his hands in defense.

"Count me in. Besides, Turks do some night-guarding too. Good practice." Reno agreed with a smirk.

"Sign us up. I love staying up in the middle of the night. Besides, tomorrow's Saturday." Lea said happily.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Isa groaned.

"Nope. Beside, you agreed with this already." Lea cheekily said.

"C'mon, Donald. We have to do this." Ven said.

"Yeah, it's the only way." Mickey added.

"No, no, no!" Donald stubbornly said, but his hopes were to be dashed.

* * *

At this, while a sad Goofy was washing the dishes with an angry chef watching him like a hawk through the first half of his punishment, Pete took a peak through the door and snickered evilly at himself, before tip-toeing away.

"This is just perfect." Pete whispered to himself, "I can keep stealing the food all to myself, and Sleeping Goof-Brain will always be in trouble." before heading towards the next class.

Though he and Goofy were both unaware that they were about to be dished out.

* * *

So when Ven, Lea, Isa, Reno, Mickey, Donald, and even Iago, Mushu and Genie snuck out of their rooms and were just outside the kitchen door, it was just one minute to midnight. Everyone else were asleep, and unfortunately for the semi-student night guards, exhaustion was taking it's toll on them.

"This is exasperating." Donald grumbled, before stretching his arms up and yawned loudly, much to the dismay of the others.

"Don't do that, or we'll..." Mickey began, before he ended up copying his friend's movements and yawned himself, then gazed at him annoyingly, "See?"

Iago, who was unusually craving for a mid-night snack, could only stare through the round window that the kitchen was on the other side of the door, and whined in despair, "So close...and yet so far away." before collasping to the floor and slumped against the wall.

Genie hovered over, as the clock ding-donged, and he then announced, "Midnight and all is well..." before yawning as he trailled off.

"Stop that. You'll make me..." Ven began before he too yawned and sighed in irritation.

Lea was dozing and softly snoring while leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, only to have Isa, who was standing next to him, clap his hands in front of his face, startling the redhead awake as he blinked before realising what happened.

"Wha-what...Oh," Lea tried to supress another yawn, and rubbed his eyes, muttering, "I was only resting my eyes for a little bit."

Reno looked ready to pass out in exhaustion himself, but he was stubborn and told himself to stay awake, so he opted to walk back and forth while keeping his head clear. Mushu did the same, but unlike the redhead, the small dragon looked ready to drop in the next 2.5 seconds, while carrying the key to the kitchen as it was easily found in one the vases only the chefs would use, though some of the students around the times of Radiant Academy had found it, but so far, no one would dare to enter...until last night.

As Mushu passed him, Iago noticed the key and exclaimed, "Hey!" before leaped over and stood in front of the dragon, and casually said, "Shift's over, dragon. Gimme the key." while secretly deciding to sneak in to have something to eat himself.

But Mushu saw through him, now alarmingly awake, and said, "Nuh-uh, no way! Forget it, polly!" and then ran off.

"Hey!" Iago cried out, angrily saying, "Union rules, godzilla!" dashing after his rival, leaving behind a couple of feathers as he went, and the two chased each other while the teens witnessed this in annoyance and all sighed at the fact that the two back from the dead acted more like small very misbehaved children.

The two then accidently push Genie's turban that was he was wearing over his eyes, causing Genie, who had also dozed off, to snap awake and panic, though was still half-asleep and couldn't see, as he cried out, "Where is he? Unhand the cafeteria food!"

Ven went over and pulled the turban off his friend's face, while saying tiredly, as he was very close in falling asleep. First last night he had trouble getting to sleep, now he was having trouble trying not to sleep. He couldn't win. "Nobody's here, Genie. But we have to...to...stay awake."

As Iago and Mushu were fighting over the key, a sound of bongo drums caused them to stop and they and the others looked to see that Genie has turned into beatniks and starts playing the bongo drums, while two duplicates of himself are listening and snapping their fingers with the beat.

"Genie is one cool cat." said the first duplicate.

"Man, that swings!" said the other.

"Genie! Stop that!" Reno cried out, snatching the sunglasses from Genie, causing the other two genies to disappear, and Genie becomes sheepish at the comedy moment. The redhead sighed, "Seriously, man. You'll wake the entire academy and we'll end up in trouble."

Returning to normal, Genie agreed, "Right! We mustn't wake them from their soothing slumber in their big, soft, comfy beds." though as he was saying this, tiredness finally overcame him and the others who all slowly slid to the ground, and all dozed off, too tired to stay awake any further.

* * *

In the meantime, Goofy was in bed himself, snoring away. But once again, the power of sleep-walking overcame his body, as he unknowingly climbed out of bed while he continued to sleep, before heading towards his door and then walked out, once again walking through the hallway, arms stretched out ahead of him as he walked like a zombie.

On the other hand, Pete, who once again was in his nasty ways, snuck out of his room, once again dressed in black and began to sneak right to the kitchen in a plot to steal while framing the sleep-walking Goofy for the rest of the latter's student days.

"This is a lot easier than I thought." Pete said to himself, snickering away.

* * *

Back to Ven and the others, they were sleeping and snoring away, with Reno, Lea, Mickey and Donald snoring the loudest. However, Iago was still away, and once he knew that the others were asleep enough not to wake up so easily, he tip-toed towards the sleeping Mushu for the kitchen keys.

"~ _Hush little Mushu, don't say a word. Iago's gonna be a happy..._ fed bird!" Iago grunted at the last two words greedly as he took hold of the keys, only for the keys to be snatched away by Reno who apparently was awake himself and hid the keys in his pockets.

"Nice try." The redhead muttered tiredly, stretching a bit as his back was starting to kill him from being such an awkward and uncomfortable position.

In annoyed defeat, Iago slumped his shouldered childishly and grumbled while folding his wings, "Nuts."

Mickey then yawned, waking himself up, muttering tiredly, "Gosh, it's hard to keep my eyes open." as the others were trying to wake up and keep themselves awake.

"Tell us about it!" said Genie as two miniture genies were keeping his eye-lids shut.

"You're tellin' me." Lea yawned, "I'm losin' to sleep." as he rubbed his eyes once again.

Ven suddenly snapped away and told his friends, "No, we have a job to do. We gotta figure out if Goofy really is guilty in stealing the food or not."

"Think it'll be easier than that, 'cuz someone's coming." Isa pointed out, looking at the darkness of the hallway, causing the others to look, as coming from the halls that leads to their dorms, the group could make out a figure coming towards them.

"Hide, quick!" Reno whispered, which he and the others did so by hiding behind around the corner, before peaking carefully without being seen. As the group kept their eye on the figure, they quickly realised it wasn't Goofy who was approaching the kitchen door, but an unfortunately familiar tubby figure, though in black clothes, he blended in the night almost easily, and he was searching the vase for something while snickering away.

"Pete!?" The group whispered, before hiding again and all groaned.

"Ah, not Pete again. Doesn't that guy ever learn his lesson?" Lea whispered while doing his best to keep his voice down.

"Nope." Mickey and Donald both whispered in soft unison.

"But the question is, how is Goofy involved with this?" Ven whispered, confused.

"I think we're about to find out." Mushu mumbled, having peaked again, making the others peak again themselves, to find that Pete was now looking annoyed as he seemed to not being able to find something he was looking for. He then looked to see someone coming and to his delight and the others surprise, it was Goofy, who was approaching towards Pete.

But when Ven and his friends squinted their eyes, they blinked in dumbfoundedment, confusion and realisation, as Goofy's eyes were still closed and he was snoring, but walking at the same time.

"It's Goofy." Mickey whispered.

"What is he doing?" Mushu asked.

Iago was the first to realise as it hit him like a brick and he groaned, "Ugh, great. We've been friends with a guy who has problems with Sleep-Walking."

Indeed, Goofy was sleep-walking. Even worse, Pete had been waiting for him as the latter said, "All I need to do now is find the key and steal as many food as I like and have Goof-Master all the blame."

"That explains why we had all the crappy cafeteria food all day." Reno softly groaned, as he and everyone else had to be stuck with disgusting slop for food all day. Ven had been lucky that Mushu went out of his way to make porridge with eggs and bacon.

"We have to stop him and clear Goofy's name." Ven declared and the others all noded in firm agreement.

So the group got ready to strike. Pete was still looking for the keys while having an eye on Goofy who by now was doing his alphabet in his sleep.

Literally.

"Ooooh! Where is that key?" Pete grumbled in frustraion.

"Lookin' for somethin'?" A cocky but very unimpressed voice spoke, startling Pete who looked and was shocked to see the key he was looking for was now held in Reno's hand, as the redhead glared at him coldly. Ven, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Mushu, Genie and Iago were not gathering around Pete, with Goofy still sleep-walking, or in this case now, sleep-talking.

"You used Goofy in his sleep to take advantage in stealing the food, didn't ya?" Mickey asked angrily.

"This is getting way beyond the joke, man." Lea added, with Isa nodding in agreement.

"You're lucky that we haven't decided to call the Turks to arrest you." Ven added, glaring right into the larger student's eyes, "But if you're not careful, you'll end up being kicked out of the academy."

Pete babbled and tried to explain, only to have Genie magically tie him up in rope, and realising that he was once again in defeat, grumbled, "Aw, nuts."

"Now that settled, let's get Goofy back to bed. In the morning, we'll have him checked up to see what's causin' him to sleep-walk." Mickey surmised as he gently took hold of his sleeping friend's hand and guided him back to the dorms.

"...G...H...I...J...K..." Goofy continued to sleep-talk his alphabet as Mickey led him back to his room. The others chuckled at this and shook their heads.

"That's our Goofy." Ven smiled.

* * *

The next day, while Ven and the others had Pete confess that he used Goofy to steal the food and once again the nasty student was put into Xehanort's lecture classes and taking over Goofy's dish washing punishments, Ven and the others, who were advised not to stay up in the middle of the night again, had taken Goofy to Dr. Shalua to check him up on why he was sleep walking.

"Hmm..." Shalua began, then nodded and told the students, "Well, due to high-lights around this time of year due to the upcoming festival, it triggers sleep-walking within Goofy. But don't worry, he'll be just fine as long as he stays in his room. This will only happen until the festival is over."

"That's good to hear." Ven smiled.

"Gawrsh, fellas. I didn't even know that I was sleep-walkin'." Goofy sighed.

Mickey smiled at his best friend and patted his knee comfortly, "Aw, cheer up, Goofy. At least we got your name cleared."

"I wish I could get my hands on that Pete!" Aqua, who along with Terra and the rest of their friends, growled.

"I wouldn't be so hard on him." Genie grinned, causing the others to look at him as he explained, "He put into motion to never do that sort of thing again and even went to dig further in his punishment by cleaning up the men's rooms."

The others rised eyebrows skeptically at their blue friend's claims, and Terra asked, "He _volunteered_ to do this?"

Suddenly turned sheepish, Genie admitted, "Well...not exactly." while twingling his fingers.

* * *

Pete in question was having problems as he was accidently causing more mess than actually cleaning up the men's rooms by causing one of them to flood and he had to cling onto the pipe-drains to keep his head up, and he was furious.

"You, your friends and that Genie will pay for this, Mickey Mouse!" Pete growled, though he knew that Mickey wouldn't hear him.

Yep, he was getting another torture of punishment all right.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry that it's late, as I said from above. I'm not sure if you know already, but Square Enix is shutting down Kingdom Hearts X(Chi) PC game in September this year, but at the same time, concluding the game's story(both Agrabah and main).**

 **Thanks so much for the reviews and please do continue them. I will see you in the next chapter as soon as possible.**


	11. Episode 11:Bedtime Story1(title too big)

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: I've been struggling with this idea for ages, along with another idea, so I thought, I might give this a shot as a somewhat practice in how to do one of my "Sailor Moon Continuum" prequel stories "Mickey's Memory Quest" in the future.**

 **This episode involves somewhat babysitting and bedtime stories.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 11: Bedtime Story 1-The Cave Giant.

It was a stormy night at Radiant Academy, so when it comes to little kids who have a fear of Thunder and Lightning, it's extremely scary and nerve wrecking. It even effects some of them later in life as they grow older into adults. Some kids couldn't get any sleep. Then again, some adults or teenagers couldn't get to sleep either. Sadly, it's even worse when you have five or six year olds in the academy.

Here's the situation. Number 1) a huge loud boom from the thunder like something breaking down a brick wall that startles children awake. In fact, it was so loud, that no one was sleeping. Number 2) small children wake up screaming and flee their rooms for the nearest older and caring figures to protect them. Number 3) the lights go out in Ven and Mickey's rooms, so they camped in Lea's room, which the redhead didn't mind. Plus he came prepared with his camping set with a flash-light and lantarns to lighten up his room. Number 4), little Sora, little Riku and little Kairi saw Ven and Mickey walk into Lea's room and decided to go there since it was the closest.

Finally, number 5) just as Ven and Mickey, along with Iago and Mushu, were about to settle down with Lea, someone knocks on the door and nearly giving them heart attacks as they cried out in fright.

"Please don't tell me Long John-Feathers's ghost is back!" Lea tried so hard not to whimper, remembering last time in encountering a ghost. After that experience, Lea had been a bit fearful of ghosts, unless it was Halloween, since last year's Halloween had been fun in many ways. Iago and Mushu both clinged onto each other and quivered in fear. Ven and Mickey both glanced at each other nervously, when the door slowly opened...and the group sighed in relief when it was only Sora, Riku and Kairi who all looked spooked out.

"Aw, is the storm scaryin' ya kids?" Mickey asked, feeling sorry for the children. He immediately got his answer when another loud roar of the storm echoed, and the children immediately rushed over to Mickey who, while two inches shorter than the children, brought them close to him in a comforting hug to calm them down. Ven and Lea approached and helped Mickey in their best to comfort the terrified kids.

"Sheesh, those three kids shouldn't even be up at this time of night. It's way past their bedtime!" Iago commented. Mushu gave him an annoyed look. promenting the bird to shrug and ask, clueless on what was wrong, "What?"

"I'm scared of storms!/Make it go away!/I'm scared!" Sora, Riku and Kairi all said at the same time, though none of the teenagers could make out on what the frightened and upset children were saying.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay." Ven soothed.

Lea, who normally felt uncomfortable when it came in cheering little kids up, felt that what he wanted to say might cheer them up, "Besides, the storm'll be over before you know it. Nothin' to be scared of." just as another, even louder roar of thunder boomed and this time made everyone jump in fright. When it faded a little, Lea chuckled nervously and admitted, "Okay, maybe it's a _little_ scary. Man, that sounded close."

"Real smooth in saying close, pyro!" Iago grumbled, before suggesting sarcastically, "What're you gonna do to help these kids now? Tell them a bedtime story!?"

The word bedtime story perked the three small children's faces and looked up hopefully at their teenaged friends, all asking cutely, "Please?"

Ven, Mickey and Lea looked at each other, now shocked and worried, since none of them expected to be on sudden babysitting duty at this time of night, considering how the last time they stayed up late was to catch Pete and help Goofy with his sleep-walking problem last week. Not only that, they didn't have any paticular stories to tell the kids that were not frightening or worrysome. At the same time, telling them the old fashioned fairytales sounded a little too boring at this time of night, but they didn't want to scare the kids either. On the other hand, it couldn't be as bad as the thunder and lightning that was keeping the kids awake all night.

"Well...we'll do out best. Right fellas?" Mickey reluctantedly replied, and Ven and Lea both nodded in agreement.

After Sora, Riku and Kairi were settled into sleeping bags Lea had set up, and with night lights and lanterns lit up, just in case the power goes off, the group in the room gathered around in a circle, waiting for one of them to start.

"You know, we could always tell the story of how I made Mulan into a warrior and a hero." Mushu suggested.

"Nah, that's for history, not bedtime stories." Lea said. "We need to come up with somethin' that's adventurous but not too scary. Got it memorized?"

"Well, fairytales usually are the best thing for little kids." Mickey recalled. "On the other hand, I don't think giants is a good example."

"Why not?" Mushu asked.

The teenaged mouse looked embarrassed, before rubbing his arms and admitted, "Well...sometimes I get nightmares of giants after my grandpa told me the story of Jack and the Beanstalk when I was very little. Since then, I believed that telling that story is for kids when they're ten years old."

"I never get scared of that story, but can you make a different one?" Sora perked up. "My Dad told me different versions of it all the time."

The teenagers looked at each other, then sighed and all shrugged, deciding that it wouldn't hurt. So, Ven decided to go first, and cleared his throat, before beginning, "Okay. Um...Once upon a time, in a happy valley where villagers live in happy lives..."

* * *

(Inside the story)

 _For many years, people never knew the meaning of anything going wrong, and there would be singing, dancing, playing and some would go out on adventures outside of the valley and return to tell many stories to their people. Though one day, one villager, who heard tales of a cave that a beautiful girl was taken to from a kingdom, ventured there over curiosity, but he never came back._

* * *

 _"_ Pretty stupid, if you ask me. _"_ said Iago, only for Lea to stuff him in a bag to shut him up, before the redhead took over with the story.

* * *

 _Two weeks later, five strangers, who came from another village pretty far away, who worked for delivering services, who happened to be teenagers, one with blonde hair, one with red hair, one who is a mouse in a height of a two year old child, and a parrot and a small dragon, arrived on their way, when the mouse, named Mickey, noticed a bottle in a river as the group took a break._

 _"Say, what's this?" Mickey questioned, as he approached the shoreline, and picked up the bottle from the water. His friends, Ventus, Lea, Iago and Mushu all approached him as he noticed a piece of paper, and said, "Somebody lost a bottle with paper."_

 _"Wonder what it is?" Ven asked, curiously._

 _"Maybe it's a letter." Mickey suggested._

 _"Or maybe it's just a joke." Iago grumbled._

 _"Or a song with lyrics." Mushu suggested._

 _"Or a map leading to a cool chest." Lea perked up, grinning._

 _Hearing the word chest, Iago quickly took interest and said urgently, "Then what're we waiting for? Go on, open it!"_

 _While the others weren't into treasure like their feathered companion was, Mickey shrugged and tried to pull the cork out, but it was stuck tight. Thinking, Mickey then suggested to Iago, "Maybe if you pull the cork, while I pull the bottle."_

 _The group agreed, before setting it onto a rock near their camping site, and Mickey, Ven and Lea pulled at the bottle, while Iago and Mushu pulled at the cork...when burst! Iago and cork went flying into the sky._

 _"Iago! Let go!" Ven called out. Iago did so and flew back down, while the cork, like a missle, continued to shoot up like an arrow, and hit the backside of a raven who squarked in surprise, shock and soreness in being hit in the butt._

* * *

 _"See?" Iago said in annoyance at the group after they set the now opened bottle on the rock's flat surface. "I told you these things are overrated!"_

 _"Ah, quit your whining already, man." Lea sighed, as he shook the piece of rolled up paper out by shaking the bottle, and it came out and landed in his hand, allowing Ven to take it and read it, while he added, "At least it's not filled with just water or milk. Even though everybody needs those."_

 _"Guys, it's a letter." Ven spoke up, getting his friends' attentions. When Mickey, Lea, Iago and Mushu approached, Ven read the note aloud, "..._ "Help-I'm trapped in a cave. Please rescue me." _..." before the group all glanced at each other, wondering what it actually means._

 _Iago, who normally isn't one for adventures, as delivering things was bad enough, stubbornly crossed his wings to his chest and told the group point blank, "Oh no! There is no way that I am gonna go into some lousy, dark, stinky and damp cave, under any circumstances!"_

 _"Yeah and plus, rescue is not on our job discription." Mushu agreed._

 _"But what if nobody else can find him. I don't think anyone else would've noticed the letter by now in the first place." Mickey pointed out._

 _"That's true. Besides, somebody must've gotten lost on their way here or on their way to somewhere from here." Lea agreed with Mickey._

 _"Well, at least we know where to look." Ven spoke, continuing to read aloud, "It's spelled..._ "Zell. PS: Map on otherside." _..." and true to the letter's word, when the boy flipped the page over, there was indeed a map leading to somewhere, and as the group examened it, it was clear that the destination that this Zell person was, it was pretty close to where the group were right now, since they had a map similiar to this one._

 _"I'm still not going!" Iago stubbornly said...only to be picked up by Lea, and the group then packed things up before following the map's direction towards the cave, for they had decided to see if they could do anything to find this Zell person. Hopefully, the cave wasn't as bad as they hoped it was._

* * *

 _"_ Whenever there's a cave mentioned, it spells-Omph! _"_ Iago was once again cut off before he could continue on what he intended to say to Sora, Riku and Kairi, as he popped out of the bag, only for Mushu to tie him up to keep quiet. After Ven, Lea and Mickey thanked him, Mickey then took over for the story...

* * *

 _It took the group an hour to reach their destination, with Ven reading the map's directions, until he looked up again, and saw, the entrance of the cave itself, huge and wide to fit an elephant. The group cautionly ventured at the mouth of the cave, peering in, only to realise that it was too dark further in, for the pitch blackness would only get them lost._

 _"Hmm...not a idea to look inside without any light." Mickey commented._

 _"Oh, not to worry." Mushu said proudly, "Luckly who have two pyros in this delivering group." with Lea grinning as he pulled out a lantern out of his backpack and pulled it open, for Mushu to spark a spit of fire inside it, and lighting it up, before the redhead shielded tight, giving the group light._

 _"Ta-da!" Lea announced. "Nice idea, huh?"_

 _"Great idea is more like it." Ven smiled happily._

 _"At least now we can see what kind of scary things might be inside. Like bears or, or worse, spiders." Iago shivered, before realising that his friends were walking ahead and he quickly flew to catch up to them so that he wouldn't get lost, before realising that he should've just waited outside._

 _When he looked behind him, Iago saw a pair of eyes, and freaked out, before zooming to Mickey and clinging onto him fearfully. The group stopped and Lea shined the lantern at the eyes, only for a baby bat to fly deeper into the cave. Mickey, Ven, Mushu and even Lea all smiled._

 _"Aww, cute little fella." Mickey cooed._

 _"Yeah, adorable." Iago grumbled sarcastically in his overreaction, before flying again, still following his friends and mentally grumbling. When he felt and saw another pair of eyes, this time he thought it was the same baby bat, and turned around angrily, saying, "Not you again! You'd better get lost pal, or I'll get tough!"_

 _Only did he realise that the eyes were bigger than last time, and he got nervous. When Lea shined the light at the eyes, this time it was a large bear who looked quite annoyed and the bear said challegingly, "Oh yeah?"_

 _"Uh oh..." Iago muttered, now scared, and backing away. Ven, trying to make things clear, held his friend in his hands, and chuckled nervously._

 _"Don't mind him, Mr. Bear. He's just a bird with a loudmouth." Ven explained._

 _"WHAT-Omph!" Iago was cut off when Ven placed his hand over his beak, and the teen said, "See?"_

 _Seeing how these kids meant no harm, the bear decided to lay off, and said, "Well, okay. Next time, keep that bird's mouth shut."_

 _"Well, getting him to keep quiet is a hard part, but he'll know next time." Lea replied, before leading his friends deeper into the cave, only for the group to pause when the bear suddenly cried out in alarm, "You're not going down there, are you?"_

 _"Well...yup." Mickey answered back, now suddenly nervous._

 _"But a horrible cave giant lives down there!" the bear cried out._

 _The group looked at each other, now alarmed, but then decided to go deeper into the cave to see whether it was true or not. They heard rumors and myths of giants before, but none of them even imagined that they were actually real. They ventured further, though the tunnels were getting more and more creepier by the minute._

* * *

 _"_ Alright, now who's scarying the kids? _"_ Mushu glared at Ven, Lea and Mickey who all looked at each other, but so far, the kids were only curious and not that scared.

"Hey, we promise that this story has a happy ending. Got it Memorized?" Lea protested, before deciding for Ven to take over the story for now, since Mickey wasn't all that amused about the giant part.

* * *

 _Eventually, the group found a large door at the end of the cave. It was clear to them that Zell must've came through somehow, and the thoughts of a giant actually being here was becoming more of a reality to them. Even Lea was starting to lose his sense of adventure in this cave._

 _"Sure hope it's locked." Lea admitted._

 _"Me too." Mushu squeaked._

 _"Welp, we made it this far." Mickey shrugged._

 _"I guess we should find a way to open it somehow, if Zell really came through here." Ven thought._

 _Iago flew over to the blonde and suggested, "Let's think about for a minute."_

 _Seconds after the words escaped his mouth, all of the sudden, to the group's shock, the door opened by itself, and a powerful gust of wind was suddenly sucking them in. Ven, Lea, Mickey, Iago and Mushu tried their best to stay on the ground without being picked up, but the force of it was becoming too powerful._

 _"On second thought, let's think about it for at least two months!" Iago cried out, clinging onto Mushu for safety._

 _Eventually, though, the group lost the battle and were sucked into the invisible vortex, and the door closed shut, while Ven and his friends continued to be carried by the winds further and further down a more narrow tunnel, until they all fell though a hole and landed right into a very large salad in a bowl on a giant table with a giant bottle of shampane, grapes, cheese, bread, a giant fork and knife in a very large room with a giant chair, pots and rocks._

 _Surfacing from the overgrown salads of lettece, tomatos, and cucummber, Ven and the others were now scared themselves, as they feared that whatever became of Zell resulted pretty much in this situation they were in right now._

 _Mickey picked up a piece of the lettece and whispered scaredly, "I don't like the looks of this." in a terrified near sing-song voice. His friends all silently nodded in agreement._

 _Just then, everyone tremored like an earthquake, and it was getting worse, coming from a giant door to their right. It made it worse when they heard a booming giant voice, "FEE, FI, FOO, FUM!"_

 _"I don't like the sound of that." Mushu mumbled scaredly, jerking his thumb at the door. The others silently nodded in agreement again._

 _"Come on! Hurry!" Ven whispered, before helping Lea out, and then the two made a run for it. Mickey quickly followed. Thankfully, the three of them found that the table had one of those curled up legs, so it made it easy to use as a slide when they jumped and slid onto the ground. The trio made no stops in quickly hiding behind a rock. Iago clinged onto Mushu who tried to climb out, but Iago's body was badly wrapped by pieces of lettece and tomatos, and he was forced to let go and fling back into the salad. Mushu in the meantime, flinged out of the bowl and landed hard onto the table._

 _When the group heard the voice again, Mushu freaked out and zipped quickly off the table, and in no time, joined the rest of his friends behind the rock who noticed the absence of their parrot friend._

 _"Mushu! Where's Iago?" Ven whispered worriedly._

 _"About to become chicken wings." Mushu whispered, pointing at the giant bowl again. Ven, Mickey and Lea's eyes all widened in horror as they turned their gaze at the table, before Mickey gulped nervously, thinking to himself, '_ _ **Gosh, I wish I had a better idea than this**_ _.' before leaving the rock to return to the table._

 _"Mickey! What the heck are you doing!?" Lea cried out in a whisper as softly as he could._

 _"Somebody's gotta go and rescue Iago." Mickey replied back, before making his way to the table again. Fortunately, he found a hole in one of the legs that had a tunnel climbing up. It fit his size too. As cautionly and hurriedly as he could, Mickey ventured through and began to climb, while the rest of his friends could only watch in worry and fear._

 _He found the end of the tunnel and cautionly poked out, looking around, before slowly climbing out...just as the giant door began to open, revealling a giant with a red nose. Mickey freaked out, before quickly hiding behind a giant bottle of ketchup, doing his best to keep quiet. Iago poked out of the salad, only to freak out and see the giant, before ducking back into the salad, hoping for the best._

 _The giant, named Willie, stomped towards the table, passing Ven, Mushu and Lea, before stopping and sat on the chair. The giant then picked up the salad with Iago still inside, before placing it into two pieces of bread to make a salad sandwich, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and then, to everyone's horror, the giant opened his mouth wide and raised the sandwich to take a bite. Iago poked out from the other side of the sandwich, but still couldn't get himself out._

 _Helplessly, Iago could only scream loudly for he was about to be eaten. Fortunately, the sandwich had to be eaten at least several times before he could eat Iago and took a bite at the front. But after he finished chewing, he caught a scent of something, and Iago, realising he was about to be seen, could only hide back into the sandwich. The giant, in confusion and being dimwitted, looked around, before placing the sandwich back onto the table before turning his back to the table._

 _Mickey, who breathed a sigh of relief that Iago was alright for now, saw his chance and as silently as he could, rushed over to the sandwich. He dug himself halfway, then pulled Iago out, before the two retreated back into the hole and slid back down onto the floor, where the two then rejoined their friends and they all hid back behind the rock before the giant could see them._

 _"Okay...now what do we do?" Lea whispered, freaking out out of his mind._

 _The giant in the meantime, not realising what happened, said to himself, "I SMELL SOMETHING SMALL."_

 _Iago softly gasped, before pointing accusingly at Mushu, since he was small, and said scaredly, "He can smell you, pal! You're gonna get us eaten!" while the others looked at each other in horror._

 _However, Iago was corrected when the giant realised, as if he discovered something amazing, "IT'S...A BIRD!" and Mushu glared at Iago who grinned sheepishly._

 _The group then realised in horror the giant was approaching them. When he got too close, Ven and the others quickly and silently ran and hid behind one of the legs of the chair before the giant could see them. However, since Iago was what the giant was smelling, the giant followed the smell and looked towards the chair, peeking around it. Unfortunately, Mickey was briefly seen, and to make things worse, Lea made a mistake in seeing what was happening._

 _"Uh-oh!" Lea gulped, before pulling Mickey further behind the chair, but it was too late as the giant stomped towards them, forcing the group to make a run for it. The giant then punched the table which sent a lot of things flying and the salad went flying everywhere, while the bowl landed upside down, and over the group, trapping them inside, but at least it kept them hidden as the giant looked around, but found no sign of the others. And it was close to a wall with a hole in it with another tunnel._

 _Too bad Ven lost the map, because the giant noticed the piece of paper and picked it up before reading it. In sheer annoyance, the giant bellowed, "ALL RIGHT, WHERE ARE YOU!?"_

 _Inside the upside down bowl, Iago was frozen stiff, and quivering...quite loudly, which the giant then made his way towards the bowl, that the others realised and froze themselves, before Ven whispered urgently, "Iago! Stop shaking!"_

 _Realising that Ven was right, Iago quickly hugged his legs and muted his quivering, but still silently shook in paralyzed fear. Too bad it was too late, as the giant picked up the bowl and saw the group. Iago and Mushu screamed out, before they, Ven, Mickey and Lea quickly made a run for it and all dove into the hole, before continuing to run through the tunnel, much to the giant's sheer anger._

 _They made it to the other side, and skid to a stop when they nearly collided with a giant cage, and when they looked, inside was an 18 year old man named Zell, and a young 19 year old woman named Anges with black hair and a white dress, who both looked up to see the group._

 _"Did you come to rescue us?" Anges questioned softly, though hope could be heard in her voice._

 _"As a matter of fact, no way, sister!" Iago grumbled, only for Lea to clamps his beak tight to shut him up._

 _"Well, we came to rescue Zell." Ven replied, before turning to the guy in the cage, asking, "Are you Zell?"_

 _"That's me, from Happy Valley. Please get us out, before the giant comes!" Zell pleaded, though he then gasped when the stomping of the giant was felt and heard._

 _"Uh, might wanna have a rain check on that one." Lea quivered._

 _"Back into the tunnel!" Mickey instructed, before turning to Anges and Zell, "Don't worry, we'll figure somethin' out!" before leading Lea, Ven, Iago and Mushu back into the tunnel to hide, just as the giant came in through another door._

 _The giant was looking practically everywhere, even by picking up the cage with Zell and Anges inside, before mindlessly tossing it to the hole where it crashed and became damaged. With the giant distracted, Ven, Mickey, Lea, Mushu and Iago, with all of their might, heaved two bars up since they were bend up and down, making a hole large enough for Zell and Anges to squeeze through and get out safely, free at last._

 _Unfortunately for the giant, for being dimwitted, he accidently smashed a piller that was holding the blank of wood that was used to hold up giant pieces of boulder, and when he heard a cracking noise, he looked up, and realised that the wood was breaking and all he did was stand there and stare in horror._

 _"UH...OH." the giant mumbled, before seconds later, the boulders came crashing down and buried the giant, crushing and burying him. Ven and the others in the meantime, quickly made a run for it back to where they came from and made it out safely back into the other room. They all sighed in relief once they could catch their breath._

 _Iago, as usual annoyed, couldn't help but shout at the tunnel to the now dead giant, "Stupid giant! You have a short-term memory loss or somethin'!?"_

 _"Man, that was close." Lea breathed._

 _"I'll say. Thanks for saving us." Zell smiled in gratitude._

 _"Yes, thank you so much. We are forever in your dept." Anges smiled as well at Ven, Lea, Mickey, and Mushu who all blushed in embarrassment at their heroics in actually saving the two of them and lived to tell the tale._

 _"It was nothing. Why don't we get outta here and get you guys home?" Ven replied with a warm smile._

 _After they made it out of the cave of the now dead giant safely(and the bear was surprised that the giant was actually dead, though Lea told him that they hold on credit in the giant's death), and once realising that Anges was actually the lost princess, the group took her back to her kingdom, where Ven, Lea, Mickey, Iago, Mushu and Zell were rewarded for their good deeds in returning the Princess back safely, before Zell returned home, and Ven and his friends continued their service, will allowed to be welcomed into the kingdom as long as they liked._

* * *

(Back in the real world)

"...And they all lived happily ever after. The End." Ven finished, and seconds later, Sora, Riku and Kairi were deeply asleep. To add to the good mood, the storm finally passed and he, Mickey, Lea and Mushu all smiled.

"Not a bad story, I have to admit." Lea whispered, careful in not waking the kids up.

Mickey laughed nervously, "Yeah, but I think I'll end up having nightmares tonight."

"At least the kids liked it, and as we promised the story had a happy ending." Ven agreed.

"I found it pathetic. I mean, what kind of a giant would do something as stupid has getting himself killed?" Iago grumbled.

"Only because the bird in the story nearly got eaten." Mushu pointed out.

"Well, I'm about beat. Let's get some shut-eye." Lea stretched.

Ven nodded, "Yeah, good idea."

The group then silently layed in their sleeping bags and drifted off to sleep, proud that they calmed Sora, Riku and Kairi, and the storm finally passed. Things were seemingly alright for the group.

* * *

However, underground, underneath Radiant City, no one would suspect glowing red eyes and a giant figure with eight legs, along with others like it, with spiderwebbed cocoons on their backs, would be crawling through the tunnels towards their destinations...and the layer of the ground above them was showing signs of cracking.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: This episode will tie-in with the next episode as soon as I can post it. I decided to make Anges Oblige from Bravely Default/Second to appear as a guest in this story. This is not the best chapter, I'll admit it, but it's the best I can do at the moment. *Shrugs*  
**

 **Once again, thanks for the reviews, and please continue to post them, and I'll see you again as soon as possible.**


	12. Episode 12: Spiders of Fear

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Had this idea for a while too, despite that I SERIOUSLY lothe(for those who don't know, it means "very hate") spiders. The disney episode of Aladdin of that, though, that's okay for me to tolarate.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 12: Spiders of Fear.

 _Previously, on Life DEFINATELY not Normal..._

 _Underground, underneath Radiant City, no one would suspect glowing red eyes and a giant figure with eight legs, along with others like it, with spiderwebbed cocoons on their backs, would be crawling through the tunnels towards their destinations...and the layer of the ground above them was showing signs of cracking..._

It had only been at least an hour or two after the storm had finally passed, and everyone in Radiant City could finally get some sleep, when the loud crashing and thunderous quakes rocked the city, alarming and awakening practically everyone in the middle of the night, so late that it was actually 3:30AM in the morning. It was so bad that it was causing severe damage, and upon seeing the destruction, and fearing for the people in the Academy, Ansem, Eraqus and Xehanort ordered an evacuation while calling in ShinRa who then ordered the medical rescue, including SOLDIER and the Turks to help search for survivors in the rubble.

They only gave in to some of the students when Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Zack, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Reno, Rude, Elena, Squall, Rinoa, Cissnei and even a couple of teachers, including Serah and her sister Claire Farron, had all voulenteered to help in the rescue, before the group hurried with Genie, Iago and Mushu and joined with the Turks, including Tseng, Veld and Balto, to find the survivors.

Luckly, no one was terribly hurt and amazingly, everyone was pretty much alive. But most of the buildings, mostly shops and small businesses, had taken the heavy toll of the quake, which was very unusual in Radiant City. Thankfully, they were doing okay in rescuing the people who thanked them, and there even more voulenteerers in the efforts. Genie split a large boulder into pieces, freeing four people who had been trapped behind it.

At the Academy, even Xehanort was having trouble gazing at the catastrophe events. "In all my years...I've never seen anything like it." he said.

"Neither have I." Eraqus agreed.

"We must have faith. The rescue parties are doing all they can." Ansem wisely told his fellow Headmasters.

* * *

Ven and the others were trying to pull rocks from another pile of rubble, until Genie magically turns the rocks into balloons that float away, and a young boy rushes over and hugs Terra, while Iago looked tired, due to not being able to sleep more than at least a couple of hours, no thanks to the storm the city had earlier.

Aqua, who was riding on the red carpet with Tifa and Cissnei, until the blue-haired woman spotted something below and pointed, "Look!" at the DVD store, where the owner was stuck upside down in a large wooden beam, calling out for help. The trio, along with their friends who noticed this, all rushed over and Terra, Zack, Rude, Reno, and Cloud all tried to heave the beam, but it was still too heavy.

"Need a hand?" Genie asked, before splitting himself into four, like he had back in Destiny Town, and with their combined strengths, the genies lift the beam easily, allowing Tseng to help the man out before taking him to safety. Although, all of them were unaware that two mysterious large shadow things watch from the shadows.

"Break!" One genie said after checking his watch. His fellow Genie cheer, before throwing the beam away.

Mushu and Iago had just helped a little girl out, when the dragon noticed the beam coming, and then tapped Iago's shoulder, saying, "Uh, Iago...?"

"What?" Iago asked, standing on one side of a plank of wood, only for the beam to land on the other end of the plank, catapulting Iago into the air, causing him to scream. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Ignoring Iago's situation, the group rejoined again, as Genie points in two different directions, "We've got a situation thisaway! …and thataway."

"We'll split into groups." Tseng told them. "Balto, Reno, Rude, Zack, Cloud, you're with me. Ventus, you take Aqua, Lea, Isa and Elena with you. Terra, you take Cissnei, Claire, Serah, Mickey, Donald and Goofy."

The others nodded, before splitting up into three groups to continue in finding survivors. Ven had Aqua, Lea, Isa and Elena ride with him on the red carpet, when they suddenly hear a woman's cry, and following it to a large crater. The woman is stuck, while the strange being are behind a building behind her.

Terra and his group rejoined with the small boy who was now clinging onto Serah, terrified, while the arts teacher did her best to calm him down. They can also hear the woman's cry for help, and it seemed that the boy recongised her, because he cried out, "My mama's out there!"

"It's okay." Serah soothed the boy. "We'll find your mother."

The boy looked terrifed, as the next thing he said gave the group a surprised pause, "But what if the Unkbuut find her first? They'll eat her!"

"The what?" Donald asked, dumbfounded.

Serah gave the boy a comforting hug to cry and calm him down, "I know it's dark and scary, but the Unkbuut aren't real. They're just a fairy tale."

"But I saw them! They're out there!" The boy cried.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ven and his group continued to follow the woman's voice until they spotted her, before he told the carpet to fly down towards her. They reached her just in time, and Aqua, Isa, Lea, Ven and Elena carefully eased the woman who had a strained ankle, onto the carpet. However, as soon as the woman was on the carpet, suddenly the ground underneath Ven gave away, and due to being close to the hole, he cried out in alarm before falling down into the next lower level.

"Ven!" Aqua and the others cried out, alarmed.

Ven coughed as he sat up, calling up, "I'm okay! Just get her away before anything else collapses!" before trying to stand up, but found that he couldn't. He tries again, and then looks behind him, before his eyes widen in realization. What was actually keeping him from standing up was a large giant thread of spider webs.

"Hold on, Ven! I'm comin' down!" Lea called out, before telling Isa and the others, "You guys take the lady to safety, then have the carpet come back. Okay?"

"Right. Be careful, Lea." Isa told his best friend seriously, comforted when the redhead nodded a firm nod that he will, before flying off on the carpet with the others.

When he knew that the others would be okay, Lea carefully climbed down into the crator before reaching Ven who was still trying to get loose from the webs. "Ven. You okay?" Lea asked, mentally asking on where the heck these giant spider webs had come from, before pulling and shreding the webs to help free his friend.

"I'm fine. Thanks Lea." Ven smiled. However, just as Lea helped him stand, Ven gasped out in sheer horror, and when the other teen turned to see what Ven was staring at, he too gasped in horror, as two giant spiders, at half a size of a bus, approach them. Too terrified at this, the boys screamed in fear.

"HELP!" Ven and Lea both screamed.

Ven suddenly felt dizzy, and then the next thing he knew, everything went black.

* * *

The next time Ven regained consciousness, instead of being cocooned in a spider web as he sort of expected, Aqua was hovering over him, gravely worried as she asked, "Ven! Are you okay?"

Seeing that he was back on normal ground and there were people around him, Ven sat up and sighed in relief. When he didn't answer, Serah then asked, "What happened?"

"It...it was..."

"Look, I told you guys already for the 1,000th time!" Lea, who looked as pale as a ghost, and was actually sweating in cold fear, spoke up as he was standing with Isa and Reno. "It was the giant freakin' spiders! Two of them! Bigger than cars!"

"He's right. It was the Unkbuut." Ven said to prove the point. The citizens of Radiant City then began to chatter about the Unkbuut, which, according to legend, are giant spider like beings that live underground, and tend to resurface to snatch up any lifeforms and then are never seen again, most likely cocooned and then sucked dry to the bone as normal spiders would do to insects.

"I swear, those damn things were so close in biting us and then trap us in their web." Lea shuddered, rubbing his upper arms, terrified out of his mind. Isa and Reno both held him close, ignoring his bad use of langauge.

"So tell me what happened." Tseng questioned, "What did those things actually do?"

"Well, uh..." Lea began, "They-they were so close I could feel their breath on my skin. If it weren't for the red carpet and Terra, I think those things would've bitten us by now."

"Then how is it that Ventus was unconscious?" Veld questioned sternly.

"Actually, sir," Ven spoke up before Lea could get into trouble, looking embarrassed, "I think I just fainted." only for someone in the crowd to start laughing, and it took a moment for the group to realise it was Iago who found this amusing.

"Fainted? You fainted?" Iago asked in glee. "Captain rescue here fainted!" before continuing his hysterical laughter.

"That's enough!" Serah yelled at Iago who then froze at her tone of voice, for she held a tone that was very similiar to Claire's, as she continued, "Ven and Lea both had a rough night! You should be ashamed with yourself, Iago! You should know better!" before crossing her arms like a disappointed parent, questioning, "Well, what have you got to say for yourself?"

Iago just stood there, before muttering in a high-pitched voice that sounded more like a squeak, "Uh...sorry." for the younger Farron was completely scary and he didn't want to make _her_ mad again.

"Good." Serah was sastified.

Sephiroth, who had also arrived, gazed at Claire with an amused smirk and said, "Your sister knows how to handle herself when it comes to misbehaved people and children."

Claire mirrored the top SOLDIER's smirk and replied, "I guess I must've rubbed if off on her."

Mushu, who had agreed with Serah and quite pleased that even the nice arts teacher had a tough bone in her, before he approached Ven and whispered in confusion, "You fainted? Come on, Ven. You've faced Makana, Carpies, Ultron..." before realising what he said about the Ultron part, and corrected himself, "Oh wait, that was the Avengers." referring to the _"Avengers: Age of Ultron"_ movie he just watched last week.

But the blonde haired boy shook his head, looking spooked and pale himself, admitting, "I don't know, Mushu. Stories about the Unkbuut always gave me the creeps. Then there they were, so close I could feel their breath on my skin, just like Lea said!"

Zack, who heard this, grimced and shuddered, "Ugh. Good thing you and Lea were saved before those things got you." he said as he approached and helped Ven stand up.

"Are we talking about _**the**_ Unkbuut?" Reno couldn't help but ask, incrediously. "As in, _actual_ giant spiders?" while the fear was stomach lurching as he held his cusion close to him. The gripping fear of the thought of what would've happened if they hadn't made it to save Ven and Lea. Reno shook those thoughts out of his head, telling him not to think like that.

"I heard so much about them in Nibelhiem, but I never thought they were actually real." Cloud admitted.

"Me either, but I guess with everything that's happened since last year, I guess even some myths wer heard back at home could be true." Tifa agreed with a sigh.

"Something must be done." Veld noted, before turning to the citiztens, and told them with full authority but reassuring, "Rest assured, you will all be safe. Soldiers and the Turks will be posted around the crater."

Elena's eyes widened, as she realized that even Tseng could be forced into guarding the crater, and was about to protest when Serah noticed the young blond's feared and worried expression, before approaching the student and told her softly, "It'll be okay. The Turks will be just fine."

With that, the students and Serah were told to return to Radiant Academy, while the ShinRa SOLDIERs and Turks helped in putting up tents for the citizens to camp out for a while, and then Sephiroth, Claire, Angeal, Veld, and Genesis went into full investigation. Tseng voulenteered to stay behind to guard over the crater, just in case.

* * *

Despite that they were told to get whatever sleep they could, no one could really get back to sleep, so the Headmasters decided to cancel any classes that were attended for the next few days to get everyone to recover from such an ordeal, which they were grateful for. Both Ven and Lea refused point blank to fall asleep, that's for sure, knowing that they would both end up having realistic nightmares for a while and were too terrified to even try to get some sleep. Mickey understood that, because he was in a middle of a nightmare of being chased by a giant before the earthquake woke him up, and that was due to the story he, Ven and Lea told Sora, Riku and Kairi earlier that night during the storm.

Serah in the meantime, could only pace back and forth, increasingly worried about her sister, despite the Claire was a psychical and first-aid teacher, but the younger rose-blond woman couldn't stop worrying. She had retreated into the arts classroom and was painting a landscape from memory to keep her mind off of the worry as much as she could, when all of the sudden, a large silk of web landed on her paintboard.

Gasping as she noticed this, Serah looked up and screamed in pure terror as a Unkbuut lowering itself down towards her. She immediately ran and backed away just as the giant spider landed, and accidently breaking her aesel and paintboard. Serah was frozen in fear as she slowly backed away, unable to find her voice, her heart hammering loudly in her chest. The spider slowly advanced on her, backing her into a corner.

Not looking where she was going, Serah then tripped over a chair behind her and collasped onto the ground, before trying to crawl backwards away, but the spider was over her by now. So terried, she unknowingly screams out, "CLAIRE, HELP ME!" and the next thing she knew, the spider was pushing her side to side, and she screamed when she realised that the spider was wrapping her inside the cocoon of web, trapping her inside, unable to move. It then picked her up and places her onto her back before storming out of the class room, just as Elena, who had decided to venture into the class room herself, froze when the Unkbuut stormed out.

Elena screamed as she dashed out of the way, pinning herself against the wall. Thankfully, the spider wasn't intersted in her and just rushed passed. But the young student was so terrified she just stood there, frozen, wondering who had taken her.

The Unkbuut even passed Mickey who came out of his room, exhausted, but became fully awake when he saw what was coming and screamed out, "AHHH!" before flinching and did his best to shield himself, but again, the spider dashed passed. Realising that he was still alive, Mickey looked up and saw why, and became even more horrified.

"Oh no! It already got someone!" Mickey cried out. "I gotta warn the others." and that's what he did.

* * *

The Unkbuut escaped from Radiant Academy, before making it's way through the streets, terrifying citizens along the way, but it again ignored them, though they realised why there was the reason and thought every prayers for the victum. It was approaching the crater in which Tseng and Balto both noticed along with some of the other Turks and SOLDIER, bring out their weapons to fire. Unfortunately, the spider spits webs at the Turks and SOLDIER so they can't move, then runs down into the crater, still carrying Serah who was muffling screams.

By the time they freed themselves, it was too late, and Tseng swore in his native tongue in frustration at the failure. Whoever the Unkbuut had taken, the Wutaiian feared that the victum may already be lost.

* * *

After Mickey warned his friends and the headmasters, and realising that it was Serah whom was taken as the Unkbuuts latest victum, they immediately rushed back towards the crater after Eraqus called the Turks in the situation. By then, the students, the Turks, SOLDIER and a furious and deeply upset Claire stood at the edge of the crater, the rose-pink blond woman clearly blaming herself. She didn't want to think that Serah, her baby sister, was already dead. Serah was the only family she had, and she wanted her back.

"We gotta save Miss Serah!" Goofy exclaimed, worriedly.

"I'm going in, and I don't care what anyone says!" Claire furiously said. "I want my sister back!" she nearly shouted.

No one even realised that Mickey was already on the red magic carpet with Genie, Zack, Cloud, Donald, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, a slightly nervous Ven, Reno, Rude, Iago, Mushu, and even Tseng who saw this and nodded to himself, before joining them, much to their surprise.

"I take that you're going on yourselves?" Sephiroth questioned, getting everyone's attentions and all blinked in surprise at Ven's groups decisions.

"Someone has to go in there sooner than later." Zack boldly told him.

"Spoken like a true SOLDIER. Be careful in there." Angeal nodded.

"Tseng, you are to inform me if you locate miss Serah Farron. Understood?" Veld told his lieutenant.

"Yes sir." Tseng replied.

"Miss Claire, are you comin'?" Mickey offered, "We're gonna get Miss Serah back!"

At first, Claire was about to protest that this was her mission, but seeing the determined looks on their faces told her that nothing would change their minds. Sighing, she smiled in gratitude, before climbing aboard the slightly larger carpet after Genie made it larger, before telling the others that they'll be careful and to keep the citizens away for now. Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis promised to take care of the situation if it gets very bad.

With that, Ven and his group all quickly flew deep into the crater, passing broken pieces of wood and slightly covered walls of web. Iago was the first to speak, "Don't know why you didn't let the Turks and SOLDIER take care of this. They get paid to do stuff like this!"

"In case you haven't noticed, the Unkbuut caught us off guard by surprise." Tseng pointed out, roughly pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, silently urging not to have a headache which was beginning to form, as they were flying deeper through the dark tunnel underneath Radiant City.

"I can't see anything." Cloud spoke out, his voice echoing through the walls. Seconds later, as requested, Genie then turns into a large lantern, but accidently shines at Cloud's, Zack's, Ven's, Terra's, Mushu's, Mickey's, Donald's, Goofy's, Reno's, Lea's, Isa's, and Iago's eyes, as all twelve of them shouted in pained unision, "GAH! GENIE!" for they were being blinded by the bright light.

"Whoops! Sorry!" Genie mumbledm before turning to face forward in the right direction this time, only to realise that they were heading straight towards a large spider web that was blocking the tunnel, but the group were too late to to avoid hitting it. The red Carpet gets stuck, and the others fall off and land on the tunnel floor, rolling to a stop. They can then hear the sound of an Unkbuut, and see the shadow of one approaching the Carpet.

Ven, Genie and Mickey raced to try and free the red carpet, only for the ground underneath them and the others to collaspe and they all began to all towards a lower level, all of them screaming in alarm. Thankfully, Genie turns into a giant mattress on the ground, allowing the rest of the group to land and bounce onto it. Unfortunately, Mushu and Reno both bounced too far and landed on their butts onto the ground. Both of them winced and rubbed their sore bottoms.

"Gee thanks, Genie." Reno grumbled sarcastically, grimcing again, "Ow."

"Magically crafted, the Genie-pedric mattress gives support where you most need it!" Genie replied, unaware of Reno's sarcasm.

Goofy ended up landing on top of Iago who was grumbling a muffled, "My aching back!" which caused Goofy to stand up and then cradle the bird, mumbling embarrassed, "Oops. Sorry."

"Is everyone okay?" Aqua asked as she stood up worriedly, as did everyone else.

The group counted each other, before realizing that their red carpet was still missing, and they feared for the worst, with Mushu then suddenly seeing something and he nervously squeaked, "Uh, guys? There's somethin' here you oughta see."

Ven and the others gazed at the valley near them on the cliff they were currently at, and all of them had their eyes widen in sheer disbelief, as a long line of Unkbuuts are marching through the underground city. Each is carrying something wrapped in webbing on its back.

"Whoa! That's a lotta Unkbuut!" Lea gasped in a whisper, almost afraid to raise his voice. None the less, he was stunned at the sight before him. He'd seen spiders carrying cocoons before, and seen ants march, but never giant spiders marching like ants.

"Boy, makes my skin crawl." Isa admitted.

"Just like the fairy tales! They're wrapping people in those cocoons so they can feed them to their slimy baby Unkbuut larvae!" Iago muttered scaredly, hiding behind Rude who glanced at him in annoyance, though it was hard to tell since he was wearing sunglasses.

"Just hope they don't find us and we end up on their babies' dinner menu." Reno muttered, feeling his blood go all freezing cold.

"You're telling me." Donald agreed, shuddering.

"You don't suppose the Unkbuut eat carpets, do you? I mean, what with the high hairball risk factor and all." Mushu mumbled nervously, only to rechieve weirded out looks from the rest of the group who all raised eyebrows at him.

"Come on, Mushu." Terra pointed out, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah, spiders don't eat material." Ven added.

"Serah's gotta be in there somewhere." Mickey said, trying to be optimistic and not think about the worse possible scenario. "We just need to figure out how to get in there without the spiders seeing us."

"That would be an impossible fleet on itself. Spiders sense movement from their prey." Tseng told them in a hint of warning.

"At this point, I don't care." Claire pointed out, coldly.

As if solving the problem, Genie then turns himself into an Unkbuut with a cocooon on his back, which, seeing how this may be their only option, though a major risk, Ven and the others all carefully placed themselves inside, though with sixteen of them, it was tight squeeze, as Genie then follows the other Unkbuut. Though out of sheer embarrassment to the rest of the group, Genie then choruses, "Okay, we're in the army now! Left! Left! Left, right, left!"

This caused the others to groan at this, some of them facepalming themselves as best as they could in a crowded space inside the cocoon.

"Ow! Hey, you're squashing my arm, Strife!" Reno grunted uncomfortably.

"Sorry." Cloud grunted back.

"Ow! Goofy, you're pinchng my tail!" Donald grumbled angrily.

"Sorry. I get nervous when I'm crowded like this." Goofy apologuised.

"Shh!" Mickey shushed.

The Unkbuut walk across a giant web. Other Unkbuut lower themselves down from the ceiling and take the cocoons from the others, which Genie sees, but the others couldn't since they were inside their fake cocoon.

"Genie, what's happening?" Ven asked, nervously. He was starting to sweat in fear, and began breathing shakingly, though Aqua and Terra both did their best to keep him calm, despite the lack of movement they could do.

"There's a whole city down here! It's like Chicago, only with Unkbuut!" Genie replied.

"How many are there?" Tifa asked. "Are they lots of them?"

"Yeah! …I mean, just a couple! How you holdin' up, Ven buddy?" Genie replied back.

Ven tried to swallow his fear and replied, "Don't worry about me. Just focus on finding Serah."

"No problem Ven! If she's here, I'll find her! Nothin's getting by this genie!" Genie said, only to be unaware that another Unkbuut had just grabbed his cocoon with the others and placed it onto it's back before rising up into the air with it, much to the group's surprise and shock.

"Genie? What's going on?" Zack cried out, realising their friend's not answering.

Iago was the first to realise and cried out as if the world was ending, "The jig is up! Any second now, stab! Fangs! Venom!"

"I'll take a look, so shh." Tseng whispered, before cautionly peering open the cocoon, and their fears were confirmed when a real Unkbuut saw him and the others, before it screeched loudly. By the time Genie noticed this, the Wutaiian Turk quickly kicks it in the face.

But the impact of this him and the others, all of them including the Unkbuut all falling towards the dark pit below. Ven and Mickey both land safely by grabbing the edge of the web, but the others fall through the center of it. The two scream out their friends' names, when suddenly and thankfully, the red carpet, alive and well, zooms down and catches the rest of the group who land safely on top of it.

"Nice one, Carpet!" Lea cheered, while the others sigh in relief.

"I'm really glad to see they don't eat carpets!" Iago sighed in relief.

Isa rolled his eyes and told him flat out, "That's because carpets are made out of material, not flesh!"

"VEN!" Terra and Aqua both screamed out in horror, while Donald and Goofy cried out, "MICKEY!" as the Unkbuut who fell climbs back up towards Ven and Mickey who both try to back away, but nearly lose their balance on the web as it was difficult to even walk on it.

Genie quickly turns into an acrobat, somersaults towards Ven and Mickey and hands both of them poles to keep their balance and defend themselves.

"Get away!" Ven cried out, swinging the pole to try and make the Unkbuut to back off.

"Y-You don't wanna eat us, pal!" Mickey tried to reason nervously, "O-our blood's all sour and slimly."

Just then, there was a high-pitched, rhythmic whistling sound starts. The Unkbuut stop in their tracks and start swaying back and forth to the beat.

"What the hell are they doing?" Reno asked, confused.

"It's not the tango, that's for sure." Cloud replied sarcastically.

"Spiky's right!" Genie agreed, "The tango never looked like this!"

"Um, I think it's because there's a LARGER SPIDER!" Goofy screamed out in pure horror as he pointed up above them. True to his fear, an even larger Unkbuut, over twice the size of the others, is climbs down towards them. Even Tseng and Claire both knew that their weapons are useless, especially since they were outnumbered by this many and both could tell that this larger Unkbuut was their leader.

"Nobody, move, a muscle." Terra whispered.

Iago glared at him and replied, "Tell you what: you don't move, I'll be over there." though he stood frozen, unable to move in fear.

Even Ven and Mickey were frozen in pure horror, until Genie spoke up to them, confidently, "Relax, Ven. This one's mine!" as he begins to walk over and turns himself into a giant can of insect spray, and was about to spray when a surprisingly familiar voice called out.

"NO! Don't!" Serah's voice cried out.

"Serah?" Claire gasped, shocked. To her and everyone else's surprise, Serah, who was alive and well, was sliding down a rope of spider silk and lands on the back of the giant Unkbuut. Shocked at her sister's actions, Claire then called out to her, "Serah! Stand clear!"

"No, wait!" Serah cried out, holding up her hands to have the others to stand down, explaining, "They're our friends!"

"HUH!?" Everyone else gasped incrediously.

"I think Miss Serah is cracked." Zack muttered worriedly.

The giant Unkbuut attempts a leg towards Ven, but Mickey jumps in front bravely despite being smaller, but suprisingly, the leg only touches his chest and rubs him gently, though this causes a reaction and Mickey couldn't help but cry out laughing, "Whoa! Ha-ha! That tickles!"

"Miss Farron," Tseng began to Serah, unable to believe what was happening. "What in Levithan's name is going on?"

"They don't want to eat anybody!" Serah replied.

"Uh, Miss Serah, what're you talkin' about?" Lea asked, confused. "I mean, it's great that you're alive and all, but, what's the shindig?"

* * *

A few moments later, everyone was back on soild ground, and Goofy was actually petting a baby Unkbuut who links him already and he couldn't help but laugh affectionly, "Ay-hyuck! Cute little fellers." while Mushu wasn't impressed and gave the baby a raspberry, only to have his mouth shut when the baby spat some web onto his face.

"They're gentle creatures." Serah explained, affectionly patting another baby Unkbuut.

"Gentle?" Reno asked, shocked. "You call that gentle when these things kidnapped you?"

"Only to prove that they mean no harm to Radiant City." Serah told him.

"But, the cocoons..." Aqua started.

"They're filled with potatos." Serah answered, as she opens up one, and true to her word, it was pilled with a sack of freshly grown potatoes. "They're farmers! Vegetarians. They were tunneling for potatoes when they caused the cave in."

"So...they're the ones who caused the earthquakes?" Zack rubbed the back of his neck, not sure on the whole thing.

"It was an accident." Serah explained, "They were in an ancient section where the ground had rotted away."

"There has been reports of the ground losing balance recently." Tseng realised as he recalled being informed by this several weeks ago. "I still find it hard to believe it, though. On the otherhand, as it was indeed an accident, I think it's best they should be left alone."

"I agree." Claire nodded, finally calm and already forgiving since the Unkbuut had actually kept her sister alive and well.

"Wait 'till the rest of the city hear about this!" Cloud smirked.

* * *

The others were still venturing and investigating, as Iago and Lea tore another cocoon, which like the one Serah had shown them, was pilled with another sack of potatos, and both sighed in relief.

"Potatos." Iago shook his head in disbelief. "Those children's stories are never gonna be the same."

"It's really awesome to know that the are such thing as spiders that are vegeterians, though." Lea grinned. "And their babies are kind of cute."

Genie was trying to commucate with the giant Unkbuut whom is apparently the queen, though he did try to tell Ven that it was okay, but the teen was still nervous and backed away a little. Tseng was making a phonecall to Veld to inform him that Serah was alive and also giving him a full report on the truth of the Unkbuut, when he turned ghostly pale as one, he and Terra both smelled smoke and two, whatever his superior told him made his blood go all cold.

"Fellas, what's wrong?" Mickey asked, noting the alarmed looks, as did the others.

"There's smoke!" Terra cried out.

Tseng quickly hung up and informed the others, "There's an angry mob attempting to burn the crater! The Turks and SOLDIER failed to keep them away from it!" now alarming everyone else who all looked at each other in shock. Soon enough, the tunnels are filled with smoke, causing the Unkbuut to panic and frantically try to run away from it.

Serah, Aqua, Tifa and Claire all quickly carry the baby Unkbuut and climb onto the queen's back, as she then carries them quickly to the surface, with Ven and the rest of the group quickly following, avoiding falling rocks, they finally reach the crater. All the collapsed buildings inside of it are on fire. When they arrived, the crowd, SOLDIER, the other Turks, and even the Headmasters who had arrived, all gathered just as the others fly out on the red carpet, but the queen Unkbuut was trapped by the flames and cries out for help.

"We gotta save the queen!" Mickey cried out, worriedly.

At this, Genie turns into a firefighter holding a hose attached to a hydrant. Nothing comes out of the hose, though, much to his shock. "What, no water? Now all the plants will die! Aha, there's the problem! Fake hydrant!" just as the queen Unkbuut leaps out, startling some of them who had heard Tseng's report. The rest of the citizens though, all cried out in fear.

"Don't be afraid! They mean no harm!" Serah cried out, informing the people.

However, one citizen refused to listen and told the rest of the citizens, "Don't listen! She's under their influence! Burn them!"

"Where's my son?" A woman, the mother from earlier, cried out suddenly, only to scream when she saw her son is standing on the edge of the crater watching the fire, and the ground beneath him crumbles, and he falls into the crater, screaming out to his mother.

Tseng, Reno and Cloud tried to get to the boy, but the flames force them to back away. Genie turns into a giant drill and drills into the earth, but doesn't find any water either. Genie then gets an idea and flies off to get more water from the ocean.

Ven tried to think of a way to get through the fires when he saw the queen Unkbuut motion him to climb onto her back, and this time, without hesitation and in desperation, he nods in agreement before climbing on, and he told her, "Let's go!"

The queen jumps from building to building in the crater, leaping over the flames toward the boy. She shoots a rope of webbing toward the boy, then climbs down it. The boy screams, but then Ven calls out to the kid, "It's okay, she won't hurt you!" as he then climbs down a rope of web made by the queen towards the trapped child. "Come on! You can do it!" he told him, reaching out his hand, while the others could only watch in worry.

With a bit of hesitation, the boy grabs Ven's hand, and he pulls him up onto the rope with him, before climbing back up onto the Unkbuut's back, but they now see that one side of the web bridge has caught on fire. The Unkbuut queen falls down into the crater as the web breaks, forcing Ven to carry the boy and climbs the other side of the web, carrying him to safety and back onto the surface. The boy then rushes to his mother who hugs him as she had arrived in sheer relief.

But there was no time to cheer, as Ven and the rest of the group could only stare at the crater in sadness, while the baby Unkbuut in Serah's arms made sad noises. Genie then arrived at a bad time and called out, "All right! Everybody out of the pool!" as he dumps it into the crater, putting out the fires with seawater.

To everyone's relief, the queen Unkbuut then climbs out, soaking wet but alive. Most of the people cheer happily, while others smile in relief. Serah returns the baby to the queen as the two embrace happily.

Ven smiled in relief, as Mickey walks up to him happily, saying, "Gosh Ven, that was brave of you, jumping on the back of a big hairy Unkbuut like that!" and the rest of their friends smile proudly at the teen who realises that Mickey was right and smiles.

"I guess I did, didn't I?" Ven replied, realising that everything Serah said was true and that he would no longer fear the Unkbuut. He then approaches the Queen and says to her, "I know you can't understand me, but I just want to say thank you." and the queen nods, as if to say 'Your welcome'.

Everyone smiles, and soon, after that, the Unkbuut Queen and the baby return underground along with the rest of their kind, and even helped restoring Radiant City, now the people of the world showing new respect to the Unkbuut, never forgetting the queen's bravery, along with the bravey of Ventus and his group that went there to find Serah and learn the truth.

How knows when the next discovered truths would be discovered in the world, but only time would tell for our heroes of Radiant Academy.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: I seriously wish Spiders were like the Unkbuut, not like the real ones(cringes horribly). None the less, it's the make up for the dumb chapter last time, and I hope this one works out better. See you in the next chapter.**


	13. Episode 13: Charmed or Not-part one

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: I did notice that Melody had a lack of spotlight, but then I wanted to do something with Lea as well. So...this is the result.**

 **Now, major hype time! Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is getting a world-wide release in December this year, AND, Shelke from Dirge of Cerberus is gonna be in World of Final Fantasy which is also being released in October world wide this year as well!**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 13: Charmed or Not-part one.

Melody was fuming, as she stormed off from Radiant Academy into the woods towards an area not a lot people go to. It was bad enough that she had a heated argument with her old home's ruler about her being around humans for so long, but to have Ven being completely clueless as well? What is it with men not letting her just grow up or even getting the point? Neither of them were her parents.

Apparently she wasn't the only one who was angry today.

Because at the same time, someone else said at the same time as she did in unison, "I can't believe he would do that!" and half a second later, the half mermaid bumped into that person who then quickly became even more angry.

"Hey, watch where you're goin'!" a familiar voice yelled out. When Melody looked up, glaring at whoever yelled at her, she intended to yell back, not caring about her own anger at the moment, and caught sight of the familiar red hair, emerald eyes, and cute expression.

Another half second, Lea instantly recongised her and he blurted out, his anger cooled off, "Melody?"

"Lea?" Melody blurted in return.

"What are you doing here?" both asked at the same time, before blushing as they realised that neither of them knew how to answer each other at this.

Feeling embarrassed, Lea mumbled, "Uh, sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to yell at you."

"Me too." Melody sighed, "I'm just angry."

"Really?" Lea blinked, "I know that I had a crappy morning, but, outta curiosity, what got ya in a nut bag?"

"Well...it goes like this." Melody began, before asking, "But, why are you angry?"

"Long story." Lea shrugged. "Let's just say that Reno and I had a blow out." just as Isa joined up with him. Surprisingly, even Iago who noticed Melody's anger earlier, joined up with them, before all four just shrugged and then walked further into the forest for both Melody and Lea to calm down. Myde, who, overly curious, also joined up. The others couldn't say no, so, they allowed him to join them.

Why don't we recap on both sides of the two students of Radiant Academy?

* * *

 _Two hours earlier...with Melody..._

It was a nice morning at Radiant Academy. Or so it would've been, but anyway, at the swimming pool grounds of the school, some of the students went there for swimming class, not that Melody needed it due to being a talented swimmer, both in her human form and in her mermaid form. However, she used her human form more often when there were other people around, only using her mermaid form when she was either with her friends or when she was alone.

Plus there was a swimming competition coming up, something that she was looking forward to do. She decided to practice on her swimming skills in her human form.

Myde was just about to jump in, when Melody resurfaced, before climbing out to stretch.

"Mel', the way you swim makes me look completely pathetic here." Myde slumped after seeing how the twelve year old girl resurfaced and climbed out with ease.

"Why do you say that? You're a good swimmer too." Melody asked, picking up a towel to dry her hair a little, for she was wearing a full on pink bathing suit.

The teen sighed, as he admitted with a groan, "At this rate, you're gonna make me look like a real slacker." only for Squall to approach and tug his ear in annoyance.

"You look like a slacker compared to anyone." Squall pointed out with a small smirk.

Melody giggled at the scene between the two young men who weren't that much older than she was, but-

Her thoughts were cut off when Rai called out, "Cannon-Ball!" and she and the others turned to see him curl up into a ball as he jumped and crashed into the pool with a huge splash, spraying gallons of water all over the place and soaking everyone else around the pool...including headmasters Eraqus and Xehanort who actually came out for some lemonade, and both were now completely soaked in clorine water, their clothes now sticking to their skin.

Rai then resurfaced, with a big grin on his face, "Yeah! Now that's what a cannon ball's like, ya' know?" only to get no response. When he looked up to see why, all he saw were angry looks from Seifer, Fu, and...well, practically everyone else, even Xehanort and Eraqus. In an instant, he knew he was in trouble.

"RAIJU!" Yells of everyone in the pool area echoed through out into the air.

* * *

An hour later, Melody was just finishing up getting dressed when she noticed her locket that gave her the ability to turn into a mermaid and back suddenly glowed. Wondering on what it was, she picked it up and then blinked in surprise when when some kind of hologram magic lit up, revealing a merman with white aging hair and beard, with a crown on his head, and golden shackles on his wrists, holding some golden tridant.

"King Tytant?" Melody whispered, shocked, while making sure no one outside her locker room heard her.

" _I've been wondering where you were, young lady._ " King Tytant the third, said. He didn't look happy, that's for sure. " _Well, where are you?_ "

"Uh, no where, your majesty." Melody replied, before admitting, "Just um, a school where people go to on the mainland. I'm a student of Radiant Academy now."

" _What I see is that you are in the human crowd. I thought I told you to focus more on your mermaid inheritance, Melody._ " Tytant scowled, his anger getting the better of him.

"But your majesty," Melody began, "Everyone's good here. I've been here for three months now, and I've learned about things that even everyone here just learned, like the Ukubuut last week..."

" _None of your excuses._ " The King cuts her off. " _I want you to return to the Sea as soon as possible and never return to this so called "Radiant Academy" again! You may be part human, but you must accept that you'll always be a full-time mermaid!_ "

Melody could already feel tears beginning to form, her anger boiling. Who did the King think he was, telling her what she must do for her future? She was happy here, and she started to learn more about her human side of things. Radiant Academy gave her every chance to learn more about the entire world. Now the King wants her to abandon her human inheritence?

"How would you know!?" Melody nearly shouted. "You can't turn into a human like I can!" and with that, she ended up throwing her locket onto the floor in which the light faded and the image of the merking disappeared, leaving it dull once more.

Suddenly the sight of it made Melody angry even further. With that, forgetting her bag, Melody turned and stormed out of the room, nearly bumping into Ven who jumped in fright at his friend's exit.

"Melody?" Ven asked, stunned. But the half-mermaid ignored him. "Mel', what's wrong?" for he noticed she was suddenly angry. But he couldn't figure out how or why.

"It's nothing." Melody muttered, not in the mood to be near even Ven. The sweet, kind, brave but gulliable and naive Ventus. He wouldn't know about her situation.

"It doesn't sound like nothing." Ven pointed out as he quickly followed her. "Did Seifer say something to you?"

Oh so now Ven was just randomly guessing? Clearly he didn't hear her outburst. Talk about clueless. "I'm fine, Ven." Melody gritted her teeth.

"Melody..." Ven muttered.

"Save it!" Melody snapped, turning to face him with a cold and angry stare which startled him, "Just...just leave me alone!" before turning again and ran this time.

"Melody! Wait!" Ven cried out, but his friend was already too ahead of him. Feeling as though it was his fault, yet not really understanding what it was, he sighed, "I'm sorry."

Maybe he should go and talk to Terra and Aqua about this...without getting into further trouble.

Iago, who was about to head back to bed, squaked in fright before dodging the angry Melody storming past him.

"What's got the merkid in a seashell?" Iago asked himself. Suddenly, and while he knew that this was a bad idea, he found himself curious, and decided follow. "Ah, why not? It's gotta be better than babysitting those kindergarden kids watching that Clubhouse show."

If only he knew how much trouble there was gonna be.

* * *

Speaking of trouble, around the same time, another heated argument was coming to breaking point. It just had to have an audience too, didn't it?

Lea fell flat onto his butt for the fifth time today, panting. He admitted that he was getting a bit better in his training, but it frustrated him that Reno still bested him. It only got worse when Reno was somehow angry with him.

"You're still giving up too quickly, Lea." Reno scolded his cousin.

"Only because you're not giving me a chance." Lea argued, as he stood up, determined not to let his fatiuge get the better of him this time. "If you were a bit slower, I might have a decent chance."

The other redhead struggled to hold in his anger, as he sighed, "Lea, sometimes there're opponents that are faster than you. Besides that, you have to be a lot quicker and there are times when you don't have a chance to catch your breath."

"Are you saying that I'm slow and weak!?" Lea shouted, his attempt to keep his anger under control failing him and quickly thinning.

"Look, I'm just trying to put you into shape!" Reno shouted back, in the same problem as the other redhead. "It's not my fault that I'm built for speed!"

Sighing, he also pointed out, "I'm not gonna be there to protect you forever."

Lea's eyes widened, hurt clearly shown in his eyes. Was that it? Did Reno really think he needed him to protect him, and then decided that he wanted to shape him up to take care of himself? Clutching at his fist, Lea finally lost it and yelled, "I DON'T NEED YOUR PROTECTION! I JUST WANT TO BECOME A TURK!"

Before any of them could say anything else, Lea turned and stormed out, quickly dodging Rude's attempts to stop him. Isa, seeing his best friend go, sighed, before turning to the other two, "See you guys later." before rushing out to catch up to Lea.

The two other students stood there, before Rude turned to face Reno, with an expression that clearly said that the redhead was in trouble, and that the taller teen was angry. Reno stood there, hurt by his cousin's words.

Noticing his best friend's expression, Reno nervously muttered, "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Yes." was the taller man's reply.

* * *

 _Back in the present...well, back two hours current time or...ugh, you get the idea._

After Melody and Lea both explained to both each other and Isa and Iago on why the former two were angry, the group ventured to a cliff area outside of town near a lake at a cave that lead down into a deep tunnel that apparently went underground.

"Oh! Ven's so gullible! And the king makes me so angry!" Melody grunted.

"With me, it's Reno who drives me crazy!" Lea grunted in similiar anger.

"Ah, come on, guys. Don't be mad." Myde tried to calm his friends down.

"Well we are!" Melody and Lea both said in unison. "He never lets me explain!" refering to both the king and Reno. The two angry students then stormed almost blindly into the cave, much to Isa, Myde and Iago's shock.

"H-hey! Where do you think you're going?" Isa stuttered to Lea.

But this only made Lea even more annoyed as he turned and glared to his best friend, mimicking, "Ugh! "What are you doing" this, "What are you doing" that! Isa, you're not my cousin!" before storming off once more.

"Hey, Mel'! Don't go in there! Caves are a safey no-no!" Iago pointed out to Melody who did the same thing as Lea did to Isa.

"Ugh! "Don't do this", "Don't do that"! Who do you think you are!? My father!?" before running towards the cave in tears.

"Lea! Mel'! Wait!" Isa called out, quickly running to catch up to them.

Myde in the meantime, started thinking to himself about Melody's words, "Gee...maybe if I were a father, and if I had a daughter...what would that be like...?" before quickly shaking his head, telling himself, "Ugh, no way! Too scary! _Waaay_ to scary!" before chasing after the others, calling out, "Guys! I don't want to have to tell you but...come back!" which left Iago on his own.

"Sheesh...and I thought Princess Jasmine had issues with the Sultan when I used to work for Jafar. And Al'...well, he hasn't seen his father until adulthood. What is it with kids having problems with families?" Iago was saying to himself. Suddenly feeling that something was behind him, as he landed on a rock, the forest suddenly seemed a lot more spookier.

To make things worse, his mind began to play tricks on him, as Iago could hear noises that he was not used to, and began to shiver in fear, which grew increasingly worse. Finally, the echoing noises were enough to have the parrot go into a hysterical panic and he quickly flew into the cave to find the others since the four students were closer to be safe, as he screamed out, "HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!"

* * *

Back at the Academy, Ven, after finding that Melody left behind her locket, met up with Aqua and Terra in the students lounge, with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Genie, Mushu, and surprisingly, an irritated but guilty looking Reno and the scowlding Rude there. Once both sides of what happened today, let's just say that Aqua was scolding both Ven and Reno. Mushu was in the same vote.

"Ugh...why does Lea really irriate me sometimes?" Reno groaned as had taken over one of the couches as thought it was a bed to lie on, clasping his hands behind his head as he used one of the armrest as a pillow.

"Well, there's always one in every family, red." Genie pointed out as carefully as he could. "Two in one bird's case."

"Who? Iago?" Reno asked, skeptically.

"Close, but no cigar." Genie replied, "I've met a bird in Africa who's a royal Lion's majordodo!"

Everyone looked at the magical being with quirked eyebrows that rose in confusion. At their expressional responses, Genie grinned sheepishly, "Oh, sorry."

Deciding to ignore Genie's unusual response, as usual, Mickey then told Reno, "Ya' know, you do tend to get angry a lot faster than anybody else, it's no wonder Lea kinda blew up in fire." he tried to lighten the mood, but that didn't seem to help.

"Tch...words that I have to agree with." Reno sighed. "Why can't I get it through Lea's head that every opponent in fights are different? Why can't he see that?"

"Well, he can't help it, Reno." Mickey shrugged, "Lea's stubborn, just like you."

"And on that note, Lea can get better." Donald added.

"Yeah, yeah." Reno said dismissively. "Okay, so I always thought he wanted me to be there for him, even when we both someday become members of the Turks, but I guess I'm the idiot of not seeing that he's doing his best. I only just want to put him into shape."

"While you're a bit lazy yourself?" Terra asked, skeptically.

Rude grinned and snickered, while Reno just glared at him.

"At least you know what has Lea get so angry." Ven said, miserably. "Melody was angry when I spoke to her, and if she's angry with me, then it'll be fine that I can fix it."

"Ven..." Aqua began, sternly like a disappointed mother, which made Ven want to cower even further, knowing that this was somehow his own fault.

"I-I don't know why she's angry at me for, though." Ven continued, "It's like I''ve done something, but maybe I'm clueless on why. I feel terrible in upsetting her."

Everyone gazed at him in surprise, wondering if they heard him right. Mickey then asked, uncertainly, "Uh, Ven? What did Melody actually do?"

"I don't know." Ven shrugged, "I went to check up on her and knock on the locker door when she stormed out without her locket, so angry. I asked her what's wrong, but she wouldn't tell me, so at first I thought Seifer might've had something to do with it, but then she just told me to save it and leave her alone."

He then looked pleadedly at the others, asking, "Is it something that I did?"

"Uh, no." Mushu answered quickly. "If Melody got angry that she doesn't want to admit and you have no idea what made her angry in the first place, then you're really clueless when you didn't do anything at all."

"Yeah, Ven." Goofy agreed, "Garwsh, maybe somebody upsetted her before you met up with her today."

"I still gotta apologuise, though." Ven sighed.

"Ven, it's okay. It's not your fault Melody is angry." Aqua gently told her friend, before glaring at Reno, saying to him sternly, "It's your fault that Lea's angry, though."

"Me!?" Reno yelled, feeling insulted and sitting up, glaring at Aqua back, asking, "What the heck did I do!?"

"You're just as stubborn as him." Aqua scolded, "What he needs is your support to help him get a bit better. You're his cousin and you should know better."

Mushu nodded in agreement, saying, "Yeah, and besides, who went and made you a teacher?"

Reno blinked, startled by the question. He awkwardly turned away, a hint of a blush tainting his cheeks, "...Have I been that bad?"

"Maybe Xehanort's lectures are getting to you real bad." Terra joked. Reno groaned before falling back onto his back, covering his face with his hands and groaned, "I really am an idiot. Growing up is a pain in the ass."

"Tell me about it." Ven sighed.

"I heard that." Mushu muttered to the blonde haired teen, continuing with a knowing smirk, "You like Melody, don't you?"

Blushing heavily, and seeing how everyone else was looking at him with expressions of surprise or confusion, Ven shook his head, denying, "NO! Well, I like her as a friend, but not like...like how Terra and Aqua see each other! No way!"

"Aw, don't worry, Ven." Mickey chuckled, "It's all part of growing up."

Realising that their friends were right, and both Ven and Reno glanced at each other, the two teens sighed, knowing that they had to apologuise to both Melody and Lea. Only problem was, both of them felt awkward on how to do that.

"Yep." Reno groaned. "Growing up sucks."

* * *

Back with the others...

In a small cavern with two tunnels leading further into the deep cavern cave, Lea and Melody both sat on two slabs of rock, sulking. Isa, Myde and Iago, who was still panting from his hysterical panic attack, sat on the ground. Luckly there was light from the tunnel they came from to give them light to see.

"Despite all the things that happened lately, I don't understand why I shouldn't do what I want with my life?" Melody sighed.

"Just wish Reno would slow down with our training." Lea grumbled. "I mean, I get what he's saying, but does he have to be so quick about it?"

"I'm more worried about what's in this cave." Iago shivered, pointing at the tunnels, "Especially in those tunnels."

"Tell me about it." Myde agreed, but then something caught his eye at the tunnel to the left, something sparkly blinking like a star. He stood up, curiously asking aloud, "Hey, wonder what that is?"

Unfortunately for him, the others heard him, and Isa asked, "What?" making Myde realise his mistake.

"Uh, n-nothing! I was just seeing things!" He stuttered, standing in front of the group to block their view. Thankfully, Iago helped him to try and prevent their friends from seeing the sparkly Myde saw.

"Oh, come on! Lemme see!" Lea shoved Myde out of the way, while Melody pushed Iago down, and the young girl was the first to see the sparkle as well.

"I see it! That way!" The half mermaid pointed, and without waiting, curiosity getting the better of her, she rushed passed the other two and raced down into the tunnel, with a curious Lea and a cautious yet annoyed Isa following, leaving Iago and Myde to groan. So much for staying away from the tunnels.

"Ugh...me and my big mouth." Myde moaned.

"Way to go, Mullet head." Iago praised in strong sarcasm. "Talk about a Butt Monkey!'

While Iago was scolding at Myde, Melody, Lea and Isa ventured down into the left tunnel, thankful that Isa had a flash-light with him, though the three teens shivered, as the tempreture in the cave was actually quite cold. But then again, caves are known to be drafty. Despite this, the three of them continued to look around, until Lea noticed something.

"There it is!" Lea said, though he was whispering as he felt that it was not a good idea to raise his voice in places like this. He pointed at what appears to be a medallion with a thunderbolt pattern on it. The redhead approached it and picked it up, examining it curiously. He turned back to his friends who shrugged. The trio then made their way back to where Myde and Iago were, before all three of them exited the cave and back outside to gaze at the medallion even further.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" Melody said, stunned at the medallion.

"Is that gold?" Iago asked, now interested.

"Well, it's a medallion like in the Olympic games, but there's something familiar about the pattern, though." Lea thought.

"It kind of looks like the symbol of the gods in the ancient greek history of Hercules." Isa thought as he looked more closely.

"Right! I thought it was familiar." Lea realised, smiling. Then he frowned and blinked, "But...what was this doing here? Shouldn't it be in a museum or something?"

"Maybe somebody stole it, came here and then lost it and got lost?" Myde guessed.

"But why would anyone want to steal this?" Melody asked, confused. Everyone glanced at each other, before gazing at Iago who flinched, realising that they were gazing at him supiciously, since they knew about his history of stealing golden stuff.

Annoyed at what they were thinking, Iago glared back, saying sarcastically, "Oh sure! Blame the parrot!" before pointing out, "Now why would I waste my time stealing from a boring museum filled with boring history?"

"As much as I agree on that part," Lea sighed, "It's too bad that some people like to steal vauleble stuff from history that aren't made anymore."

"Well mainly it's because those stuff from history are old school." Iago pointed out.

Meldoy giggled, pointing back, "But you're from the Arabian Nights, Iago. The reason why you're here is because of Genie."

"Yeah, like how he sneezed you up last year." Isa smirked.

* * *

 _Flashback-Life FAR from Normal-episode 19: The Sneezing Drama._

 _When Genie sneezed again, something seemed to happen, until..._

 _Above them, was a red parrot who at first had no idea what was going on or where he was. He was Iago! "Hey-What the!?" before realising what happened and looked down, seeing a familiar Genie. "Ooh, I see! He's got a cold again and brought me back to-" then panicked. "Uh-oh." and fell, briefly forgetting how to fly, screaming, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" causing everyone else to look up, just in time to have him crash land on top of Lea who stumbled and accidently landed on top of Mushu who screamed, but couldn't escape in time, and was stuck underneath Lea._

 _"First a small dragon, and now a parrot?" Lea asked, as Iago rested onto his chest._

 _Iago, stunned and shocked, stood up and, muttered, "I'm-I'm...AHHH!" he screamed before collasping again, and briefly fainting._

* * *

"And how landed on top of me that day too." Lea added. "Maybe next time if I end up falling from the sky, I'll land on top of you." teasing at the last part.

Iago felt awkward, before pouting and looked away, saying to avoid in being embarrassed, "Yeah, well, I quickly grew adapted to the modern day stuff."

"Anyway," Myde spoke up to avoid an arguement he knew that was about to start, "What're we gonna do with the medal here?"

"Maybe we should take it to a museum." Melody thought.

Lea shook his head, saying, "Nah, I think it's best to call the Turks and ask if there were any robberies about this thing recently. Tseng might know better than anyone."

"Spoken like a true Turk." Isa teased.

Lea grinned back, "Hey, it's always best to call in your surperiors before jumping straight in."

"Okay, so then, I guess we'd better head back to the Academy then." Melody agreed.

"Yeah, it's getting late, and it's getting too cold out here." Myde shivered, though he flinched in fright when the others glared at him in annoyance.

"Oh, Myde! You're a boy!" Melody grunted. "You always act like a girl." which made the mullet-haired teen grin sheepishly.

This made Lea, Isa and even Iago burst out laughing. Myde's cheeks then flushed into a pink hue, as he grumbled, "Aw man...it's not funny, guys."

* * *

But as the group were talking among themselves, the students of Radiant Academy were unaware of a group of armed men, a group of thugs, lead by a blonde-haired man, spying on them and the medallion that was in Lea's hand.

The leader smirked, before turning to his men, whispering, "Gentlemen. Why is that medallion not in a museum?"

One of the thugs, a black-haired guy with a red jumper, cluelessly asked, "Because it belonged to someone who lost it?"

But the leader shook his head, smirking evilly, "Because it belongs to the national treasure we want." before ordering the group, "Those children can help us. Follow them, and take them as hostages. We don't want the Turks or the FBI finding us, now do we?"

It seemed that another danger was approaching, and this time, the four students of Radiant Academy were in danger.

TO BE CONTINUED!

* * *

 **A/N: Another cliff-hanger. But don't worry, I'll get to the next episode as soon as possible. Sorry that this chapter was slow. I'll try to make it up for it. Keep up the amazing reviews and be sure to check up Youtube for trailers of both KH2.8 and World of Final Fantasy!**


	14. Episode 14: Charmed or Not-part two

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Part two of the previous episode at your service. I am sooo sorry for the delay. Despite that I love National Treasure, I have to admit it's really hard to write and I kind of lost inspiration to this story, but I'm back for now.**

 **Oh, and some bad news regards to what I heard two days ago. There will be no Kingdom Hearts game for 2016, because they delayed KH2.8 'till January 24th worldwide(12th in Japan) next year due to Tabata wanting to, and I quote, "Polish" FFXV, thus delaying that game to late November this year. Not happy that I was right about being forced to wait for KH3 'till 2018.**

 **Oh well. Nothing I can do about it. Let's enjoy the long awaited episode of this story.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 14: Charmed or Not-part two.

 _Previously, on Life DEFINATELY not Normal..._

 _The leader smirked, before turning to his men, whispering, "Gentlemen. Why is that medallion not in a museum?"_

 _One of the thugs, a black-haired guy with a red jumper, cluelessly asked, "Because it belonged to someone who lost it?"_

 _But the leader shook his head, smirking evilly, "Because it belongs to the national treasure we want." before ordering the group, "Those children can help us. Follow them, and take them as hostages. We don't want the Turks or the FBI finding us, now do we?"_

 _It seemed that another danger was approaching, and this time, the four students of Radiant Academy were in danger._

* * *

By the time Lea, Isa, Melody, Myde and Iago arrived back in Radiant City, it was almost dark, which meant that four students missed out on the rest of the day's classes, and knowing that, much to their dismay, that they would end up in trouble with the Headmasters and end up in Xehanort's lecture class again. On the other hand, they could always call Tseng tomorrow about the medallion they found.

"It's bad enough we had to leave Radiant Academy during a school day." Iago was once again complaining, "We'd have to be late in the middle of the night too!?"

"Lighten up, Iago." Lea waved dismissively. "The sun hasn't even completely set yet. We'll be back in time to get into trouble at least."

"Oh yeah, I'm so looking forward to sitting through four hours of Xehanort's lectures tomorrow." Isa grumbled in sarcasm.

"At least we're not lost." Melody pointed out.

Myde nodded in agreement, saying, "Yeah, what's the worst that could happen to us if we're late?"

Suddenly Lea and Isa both tensed and slowed to a stop, which also made their friends pause in their steps as well. Melody was about to ask what was wrong, when Lea placed a finger gently to his lips and shushed her, eyes scanning the area around them. Isa's eyes did the same.

They were in the streets near the shopping mall, when the two of the future Turks gazed around them carefully, their training kicking in.

"Run." Lea finally whispered, realising that they were not alone.

"Why?" Myde asked, whispering and now getting worried.

"We're being followed." The redhead answered. "Just run until we reach the Academy, and for Ifrit's sake, don't look back."

Realising that Lea and Isa were right, Melody, Myde and especially a now freaked out Iago nodded, before the group then made a break for it as fast as they could, hoping to lose track of whoever was following them. Unfortunately, it seemed that running was a bad idea, because they heard an unfamiliar voice shouting out in the early night.

"Don't let them get away! After them!" A man's voice shouted.

They heard rapid footsteps behind them, so the students tried to run faster, while Iago tried to fly faster. None of them understood who was after them or why. All they knew was that they had to get back to Radiant Academy, and fast. To make things worse, Melody ended up tripping and fell to the ground, which Lea had noticed and was shocked when, as he did what he shouldn't have done, though he'd have to anyway since Melody fell, there were a group of men who looked organized like a bunch of criminals.

"Mel'!" Lea cried out, hesitating a bit, before making his decision and raced back to help his friend, also causing Isa, Myde and Iago to stop and they were shocked and horrified as by the time Lea went to help Melody up, two men, one with no hair, and another with black hair, roughly grabbed them by their arms and forced them up.

"Lea! Melody!" Isa cried out, attempting to race back, but was held back by Myde to prevent him from doing anything foolish.

Hearing his best friend's cry, Lea knew there was only one way to save him and Melody and called out, "Get outta here and get he-Mmph!" Lea was cut off when a gag was placed over his mouth, and his hands tied to his back, and as he struggled to squirm himself free, the redhead and Melody were dragged off towards a black car.

Getting the message, and, seeing how he can easily pin-point the number-plate on the car, Isa grunted, and nodded, before nodding to Myde and Iago, before all three of them took off back to Radiant Academy. Fortunately, since it was dark, it would take ages for the criminals to find the other three, and were busy hauling Lea and Melody into the back seat of a car, where an elderly man in glasses was also seated, hands also tied up. After that was done, the driver of the car then took off into the night.

* * *

Arriving at a hotel, Lea, Melody and the elder man were shoved and tied up into three chairs, as the leader of the group smirked and it was not a friendly smirk. The man with no hair, Victor, removed the gag from Lea who glared at the men.

"Well, well, well." Said the leader, named Ian Holwe, stepping closer to Lea. "I see you found one part of the treasure."

"What treasure?" Lea asked, adding, "Who're you guys anyway?"

Ian chuckled, "There's no need to bluff, boy. I know that you're with my old friend, Ben Gates. You have that medallion which is a clue to the greatest treasure in history."

"Actually, I was serious." Lea responded. "I have no idea what you're talkin' about. Though I have heard of the name Gates before. Isn't that the name of a family with some theory or whatever?"

"It's not a theory." Said the elder man tied up to a chair next to Lea, "And so you know, I'm Ben's father; Patrick Gates."

Lea blinked in surprise, before sighing, "Oh, okay then."

"Then how do you explain this Medallion, hmm?" Ian questioned dangerously, holding up the medallion that was found in the cave.

"Just found it in a cave." Lea replied, knowing that it was possibly more careful to tell the truth for now. Whatever these criminals wanted, he had a feeling that he, Melody and Patrick weren't getting out of this alive without help, and he hoped that Isa, Myde and Iago made it back to the Academy to call in the Turks.

"What were you doing in that cave?"

"Just hangin' out." Lea shrugged, "And just so you know, you didn't answer my question on who you guys are."

"I won't tell you if you tell me where the FBI and the Turks are with Ben." Ian warned.

The redhead fidgeted in his chair, uncomfortable and said again, as calmly as he could, as Tseng had taught him and Reno. "Look, man. I told you! I don't know any Ben! I was gonna hand over that medal to a museum since my friend and I have no clue on how it got into the cave in the first place! Besides, you can't use the two of us. We're students of Radiant Academy!"

"So I guess this medal is a bonus to the treasure." Ian sighed, realising that Lea was telling the truth, but then gave the teen a cruel smirk, and said, "But I don't think you and your girlfriend will be going back to the Academy and let you escape."

Lea's blood ran cold. Hostages or not, Ian was going to kill them. He had to hand it to this guy, Ian was smart. He already figured that if Lea and Melody were released, no doubt they would call in the Turks and the FBI and the leader clearly refuses to hand himself, and would gladly kill his hostages to get what he wants.

"...Are you gonna kill us?" Lea whispered, shivering a little.

"If I don't get the treasure, then yes...I will kill you." Ian whispered in a warning.

"Then just take me!" Lea pleaded, "Let Melody go! She has nothing to do with this!"

Melody gazed at her friend in shock, as her mouth was gagged as well. Lea was willing to risk his life to save her. It wouldn't make much of a difference, since Ian shook his head.

"Why? The little girl would end up calling up the cops as well." Ian pointed out. "Face it, boy. You're coming with me and you will stay with me until the end of your life or until I get my treasure." and with that, he and his men turned and left the room, locking it up and leaving the three hostages tied up in their chairs.

Once the criminals were gone, Lea swore to himself, "Gah, dammit! This is all my fault! If I hadn't ran out like that, none of this would've happened!" as tears of frustration began to leak from his eyes.

Melody was feeling the similiar guilt, as she thought to herself, ' _I never shouldn't run out like that. What if I never see Ven again? And the last thing I said to him was mean...that I won't be able to tell him that I'm sorry._ ' as tears of guilt leaked from her eyes.

"Just face it, kids. We're hostages." Patrick sighed.

Lea glared at the elder man and snapped, "What do you know, old man!? What the hell's goin' on!?"

"My son, Ben." Patrick began, "He's always been wanting to find the treasure his grandfather told him about when he was a young boy. A treasure beyond all imagination. I never believed it, but what was I supposed to do to a groan man like my son? He stole the Declaration of Independence, stole my car, and asked me to give him the letters which I donated. Now Ian took me as a hostage just to force Ben to get to the treasure."

The redhead paused, taking in the information, before asking, "But I don't get why this treasure is so important? And what does the Declaration have anything to do with it?"

"Apparently on the back of it, there is an invisible map written in invisible ink leading to the treasure." Patrick sighed.

"An invisible map on the back of it?" Lea blinked, before rolling his eyes, "Gimme a break. That's the lamest thing I've ever heard."

"Well, you'd better get used to it, because we're pretty much stuck like this." Patrick gurmbled, before asking, "So, what's your name?"

"I'm Lea, and this is my friend, Melody. Got it memorized?" Lea answered, and would've tapped the side of his head if his hands weren't tied up at the back of the uncomfortable chair. Melody nodded a greeting of an awkward hello since she couldn't say anything at the moment.

None of them knew what would happen next.

* * *

Back at the Academy, everyone noticed that four students and a bird were missing, and no matter how hard they looked, Lea, Isa, Myde and Melody could not be found, and they were getting worried. Ven was nervously fiddling with Melody's locket, and Reno was a nervous wreck, pacing back and forth, worrying about Lea.

"Where could they be? I hope nothing terrible happened to them." Aqua said worriedly, as Terra rubbed her arms to calm her down, though he knew that it wasn't helping much, as he was worried as well.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure they're just taking a detour or-"

"That's the fifth time you said ' _don't worry_ ', Mushu!" Ven cuts Mushu off and finally at breaking point. "That's it, I'm gonna go out and find them!"

"Yeah, me too!" Reno agreed, "I'm gonna call Tseng and ask him to help us find-"

"Lea and Melody are captured by bad guys!" Iago's voice suddenly cuts the redhead off, as Iago, along with Isa and Myde all quickly ran over, passing other students, and stopping at Reno, Ven, Rude, Terra, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Genie and Mushu who were stunned at at least three of their friends's return, but the absence of Lea and Melody worried them.

"It's all my fault!" Myde was hysterically saying, a little too quickly, "The five of us were in a cave in the woods outside of town, and I saw something and I said, _"I wonder what that is?"_ , and the others said, _"What?"_ , so I tried to stop them, but they went in, found a medallion, and when we were on our way back, some bad guys were chasing us and grabbed Lea and Melody, telling us to run and to get help!"

Even though none of them really got on what Myde was saying, it became clear that Lea and Melody were in trouble.

"I remember the number-plate of the car the guys that took Lea and Melody." Isa added. "We have to call the Turks to save them!"

"And uh, that's what happened." Iago concluded.

Even Mushu realised that it was trouble, and admitted to Ven and Reno, "I think it's time to worry now, guys."

"Isa, write down the number-plate!" Ven told the blue-haired teen who nodded, before racing to find a pen and a piece of paper, before the blonde-haired teen turned to Reno and told him, "Reno, call the Turks!"

"You got it!" Reno nodded, pulling out his PHS that all students from the age of ten are allowed to use in case of emergencies and dialed Tseng's number.

"Genie, we need to locate that car that took Lea and Melody!" Ven at last told his blue magical friend who turned himself into a soldier and saluted.

"Ven, are you sure we can find the people who kidnapped Melody and Lea?" Mickey asked, worriedly. "They could be anywhere."

"I don't care." Ven shook his head, "We have to save them before it's too late."

"Ven's right. We'd better get a move on." Terra agreed.

"I'll roast those whoever bad guys are into a Mongolian barbeque!" Mushu said with determination.

"Ah, maybe I should just stay out of it." Iago said nervously, only to be grabbed by the tail by Donald.

"Oh no you don't!" said Donald.

"You know, you're right, Ven!" Mickey decided, after thinking about it for a moment. "We'd gotta save our friends!"

It didn't take long for Ven and his group to meet outside with Tseng and the Turks, and soon they were off to find Lea and Melody and rescue them.

* * *

At midday the next day, Lea, Melody and Patrick were once again in the car, held hostage as Ian went to speak to Ben who had been arrested by the FBI before escaping, and now all of them were inside Trinity Church in the nearby town, and the trio were walking with Ben who was holding a cynlinder tube with the Decorlation within it.

"Are you three alright?" Ben whispered.

"Do we look alright to you?" Lea groaned.

"Lea and I weren't even supposed to be here." Melody added, "I never should've ran off like I did."

"Yeah, same here." Lea sighed.

"Apart from the two kids, what do you think about me?" Patrick asked sarcastically, "We're hostages." before he and the two students were forced to take seats on the pews, and watched carefully by four of Ian's goons.

"Let them go, Ian." Ben told the thug leader.

"When we find the treasure." Ian told him firmly.

Ben glared at him, "No, now! Or you can figure out the clues yourself."

However, Ian had another idea and he refused to let the hostages go, and said to the other man, smirking an evil grin, "Ben, I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation." and turned just as two of his goons were leading a youngerish man named Riley Pool, and a woman named Abigail Chase, forcing them at the seats as well, next to Melody and Lea, which forced Ben to help Ian read the map with a pair of glasses that were like the first version of 3D glasses.

"What are you two doing here?" Abigail asked, shocked.

"Kidnapped for some stupid reason." Lea whispered, "They probably think that Mel' and I are some use, while were both students of Radiant Academy."

"It was really our fault for leaving the school grounds and get caught in this situation." Melody added.

"Kidnapping students just to find the treasure is really low." Riley grumbled, "But knowing Ian, he likes to shoot people."

' _If we get out of this, I'm in serious trouble._ ' Lea thought to himself, hoping that Isa, Myde and Iago managed to call the Turks to find them. The next thing he knew, he, Melody, Abigail and Riley were being shoved and pushed towards a small pair of stars, following Ian and Ben towards the back of the church and into a boiler room of some sorts.

Lea ended up with Ben and Patrick who whispered to the two younger men, "Look, cooperation only lasts as long as the status quo remains unchanged. As soon as this guy gets to where this thing ends, he won't need any of us anymore."

"So we find a way to make sure the status quo changes in our favor." Ben whispered back.

"And how're we gonna do that?" Lea asked, "In case you haven't noticed, these guys are dangerous and they'll kill us at a moments notice."

"I'm still working on it." was Ben's answer.

The redhead sighed, before mumbling, "Guess that means I'd better work on it too. Bad situation for a future Turk."

Melody was forced to look for this "Parkington Lane", whatever that was. It wasn't until she noticed the words, or rather, the name on a tombstone on the wall, before calling out, "Hey! Guys! I think this is it...or him!" which had everyone gather around as Melody moved out of the way and towards Lea who protectively had his arms around her to keep her safe.

In an instant, Shaw and Victor both smashed the tombstone into pieces, and pulled out a coffen with the aid of Ben and Shippen, before carefully placing it onto the floor. Within the hole, was a tunnel leading into a dark place, making both Riley and Lea nervous.

"Okay, who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?" Riley asked. Lea had to stop himself from laughing, as he could hear the slight humor in Riley's tone.

Ian had Victor and another guy say behind, while he, Shaw, Shippen, Ben, Abigail, Riley, Patrick, Melody and Lea crawl inside the tunnel which soon opened to a larger tunnel. It was dark, but Ben and Ian found a torch and lit it up with a lighter. The place clearly hasn't been touched in several centuries, as spider webs covered the area. The group stepped carefully, though Lea and Melody both caught Ben pulling Abigail into a kiss which was short, but the two students turned so that neither of the adults would notice that two of the kids watching.

"Why does that never happen to me?" Shippen asked, his voice morose.

Lea grinned and couldn't help but tease to Shippen, "Because you're a loser, that's why." lightly chuckling as the older man glared at him. Melody softly giggled as well.

Eventually, the group reached the end of the tunnel, arriving in a larger room with a winding staircase leading down. Ben lit up the fire-trail, and from the looks of things, the place looked like they were inside a giant chandelier.

"Whoa..." Lea said, admittedly amazed.

"Wow..." Melody thought, stunned. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Same here, Mel'." Lea agreed.

"Look at the elevators." Ben mustered.

"A dumbwaiter system." Ian added.

Shippen was confused, as he asked incredulously, "How do a bunch of guys with hand tools build all this?"

Lea shrugged, "Maybe the same way the Great Wall of China was built?"

"And the pyramids." Ben agreed.

"Yeah, the aliens helped them." Riley said sarcastically.

Lea couldn't help but snicker in laughter and told the man who said that, "You really have a knack for sarcasm, don'tcha?" which made Melody giggle silently, even in a bad situation.

Ian wasn't in the mood for jokes and firmly handed the flaming torch to Patrick and told him, "Alright, let's go. What are you waiting for?"

"I-I'm not going out on that thing." Patrick blanched, gazing at the aged old wood, "200 years of damage and rot."

"You'd better do what he says." Lea quickly cautioned. He knew for once that if anyone disobeyed the criminals in a hostage situation, the hostages would no doubt die and would pay the heavy price for it. As far as Ian was concerned, safety was the very last thing in the back of his mind. All he cared about was getting the treasure for himself.

Realising that the redhead, while just a teenager, was right, Patrick carefully started down the stairs withour futher complaint. Soon everyone else formed a single-file line behind the man, while careful in avoiding the missing board by passing over it. Lea kept Melody as close as possible, while silently praying that Isa, Myde and Iago made it back to Radient Academy to call for help. With any luck, the Turks were searching for them right now. Though here was doubt in the back of his mind that they wouldn't find Lea or Melody on time, but he mentally told that little annoying voice in his head to shut up.

Just then everything shook around them slightly, causing them to hold on to the banister as the shaking increased then decreased and finally went away. "What was that?" Melody asked, eyes widening.

"Subway," Ian said, a smirk on his face. Lea glared at him, not finding this amusing what so ever. If anything, it would've caused either one of them or Odin forbid, all of them to go crashing down and the 200 year old wood breaking easily which would easily result them to their deaths.

It was there and then that Murphy's Law intervened, because the moment Shaw took another step, the wood beneath him gave way instantly and he went plummeting down, causing everyone else to stop once they saw what just happened, with Abigail and Melody shouting in alarm and all of Shaw's companions, including Ian, horrified.

"Oh god, Shaw!" Ian shouted, horrified at the loss of one of his men who continued to crash through another path of wood before Shaw disappeared into the darkness below and his screams fading away. Lea had to hold Melody from the sight while shutting his eyes tightly at the scene. It was one of the hardships that could possibly happen in his future career as a Turk, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Just then the entire thing started to shake before stopping, but at the time everyone knew that the stairs were starting to collaspe and if they didn't do something quick, they would all quickly share Shaw's fate.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Ben shouted.

Lea then noticed one of the elevators and screamed out, "Get on the elevator! Jump, quick!" instantly Ian jumped on, followed by Shippen, then Patrick. But before Lea and Melody could go the same, the stairway gave another shudder. Without much choice, Lea knew what he had to do and quickly tossed his friend onto the elevator where she landed and Patrick quickly grabbed onto her before she could fall.

Lea meanwhile, wasn't so lucky as he was forced to jump onto another set of stairs, before jumping again as quickly as he could where Riley was that was more stable. The redhead looked around as the entire stairwell started to collaspe and to his horror, he noticed Ben holding onto Abigail who dangled on the edge before he swung her over and dropped her onto another more stable set of stairs. Ben in the meantime rolled over and grabbed the Declaration as it nearly fell.

Thinking quickly, Lea ran as fast as he could and just before Ben could fall to his death, once the older man nearly passed the railing, Lea grabbed hold of his hand while paying that the railing wouldn't break underneath him. Abigail thankfully came up and helped him pull Ben up who scrambled onto the platform with them. Lea panted.

"Y-you okay?" Lea panted, relieved at the close call. For once in his life, he was so glad to be fast and wasn't too late. He really needed to work on his stamia.

"Yeah. Thanks, kid." Ben nodded, before saying to Abigail, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dropped you. I had to save the Declaration."

Abigail shook her head and told him, "No, don't be. I would've done the same thing do you."

"Really?" Ben blinked, amazed.

Riley came over towards them as he stated while grumbling what the crazy stunt he just witnessed, "I would have dropped all three of you. Freaks." which made Lea roll his eyes at this.

At this point, Ian and the others stopped the elevator at their level, as he told them, "Get on."

"Ian... it's not worth it." Ben spoke slowly, clearly trying to talk his way out of this situation, especially with what happened to Shaw and that there could be more deaths if this happened again.

One of Ian's eyebrows's raised, clearly too stubborn and willing to take more risks of his hostages more as he said to Ben, "Do you imagine any one of your lives is more valuable to me than Shaw's? We go on."

Lea had to refrain himself from yelling, especially when Patrick said to both him and Ben in a whisper, "The status quo. Keep the status quo." while Melody casted a vaguely scared look in her eyes. Lea's own eyes gazed deeply into his friend's, which translated, ' _I try to figure something out_.'

* * *

Ven and the rest of his friends had voulenteered to join the search in rescuing Lea and Melody from the thugs which they now understood was Ian Howe, a wanted criminal in con artist skills and demanding things he wanted, according to Tseng who, along with Balto, searched around for the car that matched the number plate Isa memorized.

Genie was zipping and checking one car after another through Radiant City, until finally, he spotted it at the most unlikely place out.

So through a walkie talkie he made for himself and Ven, he contaced his friend.

" _Genie, do you have something?_ " Ven asked from the Wi-Fi line.

"I sure do, Ven." Genie replied, "I found the car, and you wouldn't believe where."

" _Well, where is it and where are you?_ " Ven asked, almost urgently.

"Outside Trinity Church!" Genie answered.

From inside the van the Turks were driving in, Ven quirked an eyebrow as he repeated, dumbfounded, "Trinity Church?" and Reno, Rude, Isa, Terra, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, Iago, Myde, and even Balto and Tseng all quirked eyebrows when they listened in the conversation.

"You must be joking." Iago grumbled. "Why would any bad guy would want to go hide out inside a church of all places?"

Reno, who became more and more increasingly worried for his cousin, added, "And why would this Ian guy wanna take Lea and Melody in the first place?"

"I'm sure we'll find out. In the meantime, we must be in high alert." Tseng spoke as he drove, determined to rescue the hostages while being careful on the situation.

It wasn't long before the group met up with Genie and would infiltrate Trinity Church.

* * *

At last, Lea and the others reached the bottom of the shaft as the elevator slowed to a stop. Soon, everyone stepped off and onto the platform, with Ben taking the lead. However, when the group entered a single room...it was just empty.

"So uh, what's this?" Lea asked, wondering why this room was completely empty. Something seemed off.

"Well?" Ian demanded to Ben.

Ben didn't answer as he kept quiet as he looked around the room. It seemed that he was in a major disappointment.

"This is it?" Riley asked, dumbfounded, before he demanded, "We came all this way for a dead end?"

"Yes." Ben sighed. But by the way he was reacting, Lea's brows furrowed suspiciously. Something seemed weird with this guy. Ben never striked him as a person to give up so easily ever since coming to this church.

"There's gotta be something more." Riley insisted.

"Riley, there's nothing more." Ben stated.

Melody then suggested, "Maybe there's another clue around-"

"No, there are no more clues!" Ben began to shout, startling Melody, Lea and Riley. "That's it, OK? It's over! End of the road. The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else."

But Ian wasn't taking it, as he moved towards Ben, and demanded, "You're not playing games with me, are you Ben? You know where it is."

"No." Ben simply replied after a long pause.

After a moment, and having come to a decision, Ian nodded to Shippen towards the elevator and the two men quickly started back towards it, much to everyone else's shock. They started to follow to the elevator, but Ian already started it and only stopped it as soon as it was far enough away from the room so that no one else could climb onto it.

"Hey, what're you doing!?" Lea cried out.

"We'll be trapped!" Abigail added.

"You can't just leave us here!" Melody insisted.

Ian smirked, and said in a tone that clearly told them he didn't care what happened to them and that he had intended on having both Melody and Lea murdered either way anyway, "Yes I can. Unless Ben tells me the next clue."

"There isn't another clue." Ben said slowly, as though it would help Ian understand.

"Ian, why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this toget-" Riley was cut off when Lea elbowed him in the ribs.

At the older man's questioning look, Lea told him since he could just picture Ian taking out a gun, so the teenager told him, "It's best to keep your mouth shut before he decides to kill us right here."

"Okay." Riley quickly agreed.

Ian had made a move to bring out his gun, but stopped when Lea had told Riley to shut up before the former really did bring out his weapon. However, he tempted to do so as he spoke to Ben again, "The clue. Where's the treasure?"

"The lantern." Patrick spoke.

Everyone turned their gaze at the oldest man in the group, and Lea whispered in a warning, "Mr. Gates...!"

"The status quo as changed." Patrick whispered to the teen. Despite Lea's warning, he continued as he gazed at Ian, "It's part of freemason teachings. In King Solomon's temple there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue."

"What does it mean?" Ian asked.

"Boston." Ben answered, following his father's bluff. "It's Boston."

Patrick continued, "The Old North Church in Boston, where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple, to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming. One if by land, two if by sea. One lantern. Under the winding staircase of the steeple, that's where we have to look."

Despite this, Ian just said, "Thank you." before starting up the elevator again before the others could hitch a ride on it.

"Wait a minute, you have to take us with you!" Lea protested.

"Why?" Ian grinned. "So you could escape in Boston? Did you really think you and your little girlfriend were going back to the Academy, boy? You're never going back there, and you will never, _ever_ , see your family again."

Lea's blood ran so cold he was certain he would just die just by standing at the very spot. Why was Ian so cold against the students of Radiant Academy?

"I know that you're training to become a Turk, and I cannot let that happen. One less Turk to worry about." Ian continued, as he shrugged a single shoulder, "Besides, with you out of the picture there's less baggage to carry."

"But-what if there's another clue?" Lea blurted out, despite Ben and Patrick's warning stares from their eyes.

Ian paused, before saying dangerously and lowly, "Then I'll know where to find you. So enjoy your little prison, former student of Radiant Academy." before turning the elevator on again. "See you, Ben."

"No!" Ben shouted.

"Stop, don't do this!" Lea cried out.

"Come back!" Melody cried out.

But it was too late. The elevator was gone. Lea felt like kicking himself for his own stupidy. He nearly sobbed in frustration, until Melody gently held his arm in her hands to try and comfort him, despite that they and the others with them would all most likely die here in this place.

"We're all gonna die." Riley stated, somberly.

Ben shook his head and said, "It's gonna be okay." before apologising to both Riley and Melody, "I'm sorry I yelled at both of you."

He and Patrick then both went to the back of the room and started to examine the walls, much to the confusion of everyone else who joined them halfway since there wasn't anywhere else to go.

"Alright, what's going on?" Lea demanded.

"The British came by sea. It was two lanterns, not one." Abigail added and pointed out.

Lea then realised what happened and nearly smacked himself, before stating, "In order to prevent Ian from killing us, even though it backfired since they hoped he would take us with him, they gave him a clue since he wanted one."

"It was a fake clue." Melody realised, her eyes widening.

Even Riley realised it and began to babble, "That means... by the time Ian figures it out and comes back here, we'll still be trapped, and he'll shoot us then. Either way, we're gonna die." his voice got more and more despondent as he kept speaking.

"Nobody's gonna die." Ben spoke. "There's another way out."

Everyone blinked in confusion, as Melody asked, "Where? The staircase is gone."

Ben answered with a knowing smile, "Through the treasure room." as he pushed a switch of some kind and in an instant, there was a loud crack and the wall cracked open. Everyone's eyes widened, as Lea, seeing what was happening, rushed over to help Ben and Patrick push the door open.

Once that was done, everyone slowly stepped into the room after Ben stepped in first. Lea and Melody both looked around, eagerly expecting to see the treasure, and found themselves in confused disappointment when this room was empty as well. Where was it?

"Looks like somebody got here first." Riley spoke, in disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Abigail sighed.

Ben was in disappointed disbelief, sounding despondent as he said, "It's gone."

When Patrick started to talk, Ben just continued as though he didn't hear the former, "It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates." before turning to his father and said, "You were right."

"No, I wasn't right." Patrick shook his head, which came as a surprise since he didn't admit he was wrong that easily. "This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history, because you found what they left behind for us to find and understood the meaning of it. You did it, Ben. For all of us. Your grandfather, and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong."

Taking in his father's words, Ben sighed, disappointed. "I just... really thought I was gonna find the treasure."

"Okay." Patrick began. "Then we just keep looking."

"I'm in." Abigail agreed.

"Me too." Lea decided to say. "And if you like, Mel' and I've got best friends and a cousin that could more than happily help out." with a slight smile, and Melody nodded in agreement.

On the other hand, Riley then spoke up which made everyone else turn to face him, "Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not gonna happen. As far as I can see, we're still trapped."

"Oh, right." Lea mumbled. He did want to help look for the treasure, but he just realised that he forgot that there was still no way out. So, he asked, "He has a point. So uh, where's the back door exit?"

"Well, that's it. It doesn't make any sense, because the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here was cut a secondary shaft back out for air...and in case of cave-ins." Ben walked around the room again, looking closely at the walls. Finally he stopped, staring at a particular part of the wall.

"Could it really be that simple?" Ben's voice was quiet but in the silence Lea could hear him even all the way across the room. "The secret lies with Charlotte." He fumbled around in his jacket and brought out the pipe from the Charlotte.

Suddenly, the wall cracked open. Everyone stood in awe, before looking at each other and then ventured into another room. What they found astonded them. All around them, was the treasure itself beyond imagining. Their eyes widended in disbelief. Gold, jewels, ancient statues, medallions, scrolls, everything from history.

"Whoa..." Lea gapped, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. He then asked, wanting to be certain, "Are you guys having the same dream I am?"

He didn't get an answer, since Riley's eyes welled up in tears as he noticed something very emotional, resulting Abigail to ask, in slight amusement at the man's weakness, "Riley, are you crying?"

"Look." Riley choaked. "Stairs." Everyone else looked up and all smiled in relief.

"Looks like we found our back door." Lea sighed in relief.

* * *

As the other two minions waited for the return of Ian and the other two, seconds later before they both tempted to go in themselves, their team arrived. Or at least, Ian and Shippen did. Ben and the others were absent.

"Where's Shaw?" One of them asked.

Ian shook his head, muttering, "He's dead. Along with all others. But we do know where to find the treasure."

He paused, before smirking, "We go to Boston tonight."

However, before they could even make a move, all of the sudden they found themselves chained up together and tied up instantly, being forced to be sat on the floor, grunting in shock and confusion, wondering what was going on. Their answer was revealed as Genie appeared out of nowhere, grinning as he dusted his hands off at another job well done.

"Going somewhere, boys?" Genie joked.

"A genie?" Ian asked, shocked.

"And not just any genie." Genie grinned, as Iago flew in.

"Nya nya nya nya nya nya!" Iago taunted as he landed onto the floor while glaring up at the villians that were chained up, as Ven, Reno, Terra, Rude, Aqua, Myde, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Tseng and Balto all arrived, having waited for the signal and now the group surrounded the criminals.

Realising that the two other students he imprisoned with Ben and the others, Ian scowled in anger, while Tseng spoke to him coldly, "You're under arrest, Mr. Howe. For kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property."

"Before my future boss gets to take you in," Reno spoke up to Ian as he approached the latter, glaring coldly that he hardly did around his friends. "You tell us where your hostages are, or you'll be in a great pain of suffering."

"Uh, Reno? You're kind of scarying me." Myde shuddered slightly.

"It's part of of the job." Isa sighed.

Ian glared at the redhead who shared identical looks to the one trapped in the shaft. "You the brother of one of them? Because you look just like him." he said, ignoring the question, much to Reno's anger.

"He's my cousin." Reno growled lowly. "Where is he?"

Again, Ian didn't answer and said, "What's the matter? Never see him again?" smirking.

Deep down, Reno's blood ran cold. In fact, his friends probably went pale as well by hearing this. In the end, he couldn't keep in his anger and punched Ian squarely in the face, winching a little as the numbness when his knuckles stinged a little when they met Ian's nose which now bled and his eye which now had a deep black and purple bruise. Rude and Balto quickly went to restrain Reno from doing any more damage, while everyone else, even Tseng, glared coldly at Ian.

"How could you?" Ven demanded to Ian, shaken as he realised what the criminal had said. Deep down, he felt terrible guilt. Melody and Lea...they were gone.

However, before anyone else could say anything else or even upgrade Ian's arrest from attempted murder to murder, just then the other grave behind Genie made cracking noises, and everyone turned their attention to this. The wall continue to crack, and instantly the students of the Academy began to panic, while Iago was freaking out.

"A ghost!" Donald screamed.

"A Mummy!" Goofy screamed, quickly clinging onto Donald who clinged onto him.

"Uh...do tombs usually do that?" Mickey asked, scaredly.

"No." Ven, Terra and Aqua all replied, having freaked out expressions themselves.

Finally, the wall cracked open, and instead of either a ghost or a mummy as the group were expecting, instead, to their confusion and Ian's shock, it was Ben who coughed a little. When he saw the group, he greeted casually, as though nothing out of the ordinary happened, "Hi."

"Uh, hi." Terra greeted in return, awkwardly.

Ben, seeing the two Turks, asked, "Do either of you have a cell phone I can borrow?" as he stepped out and helped Patrick out, then Abigail, then Riley, and then finally, to the rest of the group's relief and amazement, Lea and Melody, all of the group who were just inside the shaft slightly covered in cobweb.

"Okay, that's it. I'm going crazy over over here!" Iago panicked, shaking his head while attempting to seemingly wake himself up from a dream, except that this was real.

Reno's eyes welled up in tears as the sight of his cousin nearly overwhelmed him. After a moment, he went over to Lea who saw that help has finally arrived and smiled in return, though awkwardly since he had a lot of explaining to do.

"Uh, hey...whoa!" Lea was startled as Reno nearly crushed him in a hug.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Reno nearly sobbed. "I was so worried."

Realising that he had Reno very worried, Lea opted to embrace his cousin in return and muttered, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for getting mad at you."

Reno sniffled, unable to find his voice.

"Ven!" Melody cried out happily as she ran over to Ven who caught her in his arms and the two embraced happily.

"Melody! You're okay!" Ven said.

"Lea and Melody are safe! Lea and Melody are safe!" Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Isa and Myde all cheered happily in relief, while Aqua and Terra both sighed in great relief.

Tseng then turned to the dumdstruck Ian and said, "Definate attempted murder, hm? Lea is more smarter than you think, as a future member of the Turks, along with his cousin and their friends."

"I hate Radiant Academy." Ian groaned.

"Melody..." Ven began as he and Melody let each other go. "I uh...I wanted to apologuise about yesterday."

Quickly realising what Ven meant, the half-mermaid shook her head, and said, "I'm the one who should apologuise, Ven. I'm sorry for getting mad at you. It's just...complicated."

"It's okay. Still, I'm sorry." Ven replied, smiling warmly.

Reno in the meantime, apologuised to Lea, "I'm sorry for not realising that you don't need my protection. I was an idiot."

"It's cool. I'm sorry too." Lea replied, "So, no hard feelings?"

The other redhead chuckled, and said, "No hard feelings. Growing up really sucks."

Mickey and the rest of their friends all smiled, glad that Lea and Melody were safe and they, Reno and Ven had made up so quickly.

So, after the Turks took Ian and his minions into prison, Ben had called in the FBI and informed them about what happened, which in the end had Ben, Abigail, Riley and Patrick pardoned and they, along with Lea and Melody, were given credit to discovering the treasure that would soon be put into museums all over the world since it belonged to the world. Lea and the others got off fairly easy when they returned to the Academy and only had just one hour of Xehanort's lecture, which was a world record in history with the elderly man.

Melody still had some things to worry about with the merpeople's King to hopefully get him to understand her desires to remain on land while visiting the seas secretly, but once she told Ven and the others this, they all promised to help her along the way to prove to the merpeople that humans were not that much different. Melody was glad to have her friends by her side.

In the meantime, Lea and Reno made up and continued training with their best friends, and soon enough, things started to improve further, especially when Lea revealed that he saved Ben and the Decloration of Indepence earlier.

Soon things returned to normal in Radient Academy...Well, Radient Academy normal anway, since normal pretty much didn't much exist these days.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Again, I am terribly sorry for the long delay. So I made this chapter longer to make up for it. Hope you're not mad at me for delaying this for so long. Speaking of delays, I am not impressed with Tabata and Nomura delaying FFXV and KH2.8 like they did. But that's just me, so I'll be ranting for a while until I buy Ice Age: Collision Course on DVD next month.**

 **Please look forward to the next episode as soon as I'm able, but in the meantime, I'll be working on other stories or starting up new ones...again.**


	15. Episode 15: Radiant Egg-Scapade

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: I am sooo sorry for the delay. Now I'm back. Like the previous series, this episode is based on something that's not Disney. This time it's based on the Ice Age Easter Special...despite today being the new year of 2017. ^~^;**

 **Let's enjoy the long awaited episode of this story.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 15: Radiant Egg-Scapade.

It was the beginning of Spring in Radiant City and everyone was getting ready for Easter, the fun happy holiday where kids go out easter egg hunting for chocolate eggs and other spring activities. Though since it was also coming up to April Fools, it was also the time for playing jokes and such. At Radiant Academy, the students and teachers were also getting ready as well...

Well, almost everyone.

In Terra's room, Terra, Ven, Reno, Rude, Lea and Isa were watching the latest Jurassic World movie and were just nearing the ending with the final battle against the Indominus Rex or whatever it was called against a Raptor named Blue and a T-Rex that was released from it's enclosure and the six of them were cheering the good carnivore dinosaurs on.

"C'mon, Blue!" Terra cheered.

"Yeah, T-Rex rules!" Lea grinned.

The teenagers cringed then edged closer to the wide-inch TV as the T-Rex and Raptor had the other giant Dino cornered to the edge of a lagoon...and then the six of them flinched and briefly covered their eyes when a Mosasaurus that accidently ate one of the human protagonist's assistant earlier appeared and dragged the villian Dinosaur into the lagoon and underwater, killing it.

"Whoa..." Reno said, eyes wide.

"That was sudden." Isa muttered.

Lea held a freaked out expression as he said, "It _was_ sudden."

"Indominus Rex loses." Rude said simply as the movie ended.

Ven stretched out and gazed at the clock, before standing up and said to his friends, "Hey, we'd better get going and help out with the Easter Feast." with Terra and the others nodding in agreement, except for Lea and Reno who both grinned.

"Ah, Easter, schmeaster, chocobo Keister!" Reno waved dismissively. "The two of us are gonna be celebratin' April Fools day." wrapping his arm around his cousin shoulder's as the latter grinned.

"Again? Aren't you guys tired of doing this sort of thing?" Isa slumped in disbelief and annoyance.

"Hey, it's the only time of the year we get away in preforming pranks together." Lea pointed out proudly. "This year we're picking out a single target by preforming perfect pranks with old-fashioned pranks."

"You guys go on ahead. Just don't pick me, because I really don't like April Fools day." Ven said, shuddering as he muttered, "Last year, you guys dunked me and Terra with Sea Salt Milk Shake." as memories of the previous Easter ended with Ven and Terra soaked in said milk shake that took them hours to get cleaned up, especially when it was somehow sticky on top of everything else.

The two redheads glanced at each other, mouths gapped as that idea flew right out of the window, as Reno said, "Well, there went that idea. Looks like we need a new victum."

"The question is...who shall be this year's Fool?" Lea thought, tapping his chin in thought as Reno did the similiar thing, both of them walking around the group who all gave the two redheads warning expressions that said, 'Don't even think about it' which also flew those ideas out the window. It wasn't until Lea came up with an idea and announced, "Tifa!"

"Yeah, I was just thinkin' the same thing!" Reno agreed as the two said their goodbyes to their friends and left the room to plan their Pranking on Tifa Lockhart, while Ven and the others sighed, before leaving as well to help everyone else with Easter.

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the students decorated around the Academy and the Academy Gardens, as Mickey was on top of a ladder, fixing up flowers tha hanged around the podium, kind of like christmas tremings. The others on the ground fixed up the flowers in the garden as well, with Minnie humming to herself.

"Oh boy! I love Spring! Perfect nice days without getting too hot or too cold. Ha-ha!" Mickey said happily as he concencrated.

"I love the the colors, the changing of seasons!" Minnie agreed as she not only watered the flowers with the water can, but also placed the decorated chocolate eggs as a hiding spot for kids to go easter egg hunting.

Aqua nodded in agreement as she added, "Of course, spring doesn't really

start until the eggs in nests hatch."

"And you can't start Easter without Chocolate Egg hunting or the Easter Feast." Mickey concluded happily, as he finished his work and climbed down the ladder, going over to Minnie and Aqua, continuing, "I can't wait to see the kids' faces when they get all of the Easter Eggs we hid this year."

"It brings back memories of Easter Egg hunting when I was a little girl. How time flies so fast." Aqua thought, thinking back of her early childhood, used to love playing Easter Egg hunting.

Mickey then gazed lovingly at Minnie, saying, "And I've got a special Spring suprise just for you." brining out a bunch of flowers from behind his back and held them out to her, proclaiming, "Ta-da!"

Minnie instantly fell in love with the flowers, saying happily, "Ooh, Mickey! They're beautiful!" gently taking them and taking a sniff of the wonderful scent, before giving Mickey a loving kiss on the check which made him tingle as he sighed, almost in dream-land.

"Mickey, you and Minnie are very lucky to be together." Aqua smiled warmly at the scene.

Unfortunately, the moment was cut off when an annoyed Iago came up, shoving Mickey and Minnie back a little as the red parrot said, "Yeah! Like a kid wanting Princess Jasmine to break up her and Al's engagement, not to mention like a cockroach knows quantum physics!"

"Iago!" Mickey, Minnie and Aqua scolded to the parrot.

"What? Can I help it that Spring just another season of the year?" Iago shrugged, landing the ground while going through a list of what he knows about the four seasons of the year, "Winter is cold, wet and freezing with snow, spring just melts the snow with flowers growing, animals in forests going berserk with birds tweeting constantly and singing that drives an Owl nuts, summer is hot, dry and scorching that gives people sun burn or roast them, and finally, Autuum just sheds leaves and makes a mess all over the place. Nothing special about them!"

"Aw, that's not true, Iago." Mickey explained. "There are certain days that reminds everybody of when these special days first started. It's a tradition."

Iago rolled his eyes while crossing his wings against his chest, saying in sarcasm, "Like what? The Easter whatever dumping eggs made out of chocolate for kids to go find? Why can't he or she just dump gold or treasure instead?"

"There's more to life than money, you know." Aqua told him firmly.

"Well, anyway, we're done here so I say we help out with the rest of the Easter Decorations." Mickey decided to change the subject, with Minnie and Aqua nodding in agreement before walking off.

Iago stayed behind a little before shaking his head and grumbling while saying to himself, "Why do I get the feeling this year's gonna be a disaster?" flying to do something else to avoid in doing more labor work.

But as the four of them left, they were unaware that Pete, being his usual mischief self, was hiding behind the bushes before silently snatched the chocolate eggs and put them inside his bag with dozens of other chocolate eggs he'd stolen already, replacing them with Chocobo Eggs, and even...a giant Condor Egg near one of the statue moments in the middle of town. He snickered at himself as a job well done.

He then broke the fourth wall and said to the readers/viewers, "I'm gettin' real good in being a bad guy!" before zipping away, leaving behind a cloud of dust that was shaped like him before he could get caught.

Too bad what he just did would cost Radiant City.

* * *

Meanwhile, Reno and Lea were setting up the booby trap in the first of their prank, which was done by the book. The o'l famous woopy cosin prank as they sat it at a chair in the caferteria where they knew that Tifa would be sitting on since it was her usual spot.

"First prank done perfectly." Reno grinned, clapping his hands as though he was dusting them off.

"The look on Tifa's face will be so priceless." Lea mimicked his cousin's smirk, as the two redheads snickered almost evilly.

Reno then noticed the door opening and quickly whispered, "Here she comes." before puling Lea and himself underneath another cafeteria table to avoid in being seen, as their target in speaking was approaching the table with a tray with the cafeteria food.

"This is gonna be deliciously sweet." Lea snickered, before Reno clamped his hand over the former's mouth to shut him up before they would get caught.

The two redheads giggled softly and as silently as they could as they watched Tifa place the tray onto the table. To their shock, however, the young woman took a seat at the opposite end of the table and began to eat. They were stuck there for fifteen minutes before she finished and then placed the tray into the dishes rack before leaving.

Once Tifa was out of sight, Reno and Lea climbed out of their hiding spot, unable to believe what just happened. However, before they could even consider on heading to the table to pick up their pranking weapon, to their horror, Headmaster Eraqus approached the table, and their stomachs dropped when he didn't see the cosin and began to sit down when...

 _ **PFFFFFFTTTT!**_

"AH!" Eraqus jumped out of the seat in fright, before looking to see the woopy toy that he sat on. He picked it up and immediately, fury and sheer annoyance began to form on his expression on this stupid and silly joke.

"Uh...time to go!" Lea said scaredly.

"Y-Yeah." Reno agreed, before the two redheads took off running before Eraqus could even see them.

Unfortunately, Eraqus knew that they were behind it as he shouted, "RENO! LEA!"

By the time Eraqus went looking for them, Reno and Lea were already too far ahead as they ran down the hallway as fast as they could, as Reno asked fearfully, "Is he behind us?"

"I'm not lookin'!" Lea responded. "That was an epic fail!"

"And an epic death sentence!" Reno replied.

They had to avoid Eraqus for the rest of the day as well as figure out a new prank to get to Tifa who was completely oblivious to the entire thing that just happened that was meant for her. So it was a lucky break for her, but not a lucky break for Reno and Lea.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mickey, Minnie, Iago and Aqua regrouped with Ven, Terra, Donald, and Goofy and the other students, finishing up the last of the decorations when Mushu went to look into the basket full of the chocolate eggs when he noticed something unusual and wrong. Blinking in confusion, the small dragon pulled out not a chocolate decorated egg, but...

"Uh, can somebody explain to me how this gator egg came here and where the chocolate went?" Mushu asked, uncertainly.

"Wait, what?" Ven blinked as he and the others stopped what they were doing and approached their friend, before he and everyone else gasped when they saw that what Mushu was holding was really a real egg.

"Hey, where'd the chocolate go?" Goofy asked, scratching the top of his head in confusion.

Everyone glanced at each other before realization sinked in and Mickey grunted angrily, "Pete! That no good troublemaker!"

Iago, more annoyed than shocked, groaned in exasperation, "Ugh, great. I knew this was too good to be true."

"Oh dear! Without the chocolate eggs, we can't celebrate easter!" Minnie cried out with worry.

"And these eggs have to be returned to their rightful owners before they hatch." Aqua added worriedly.

"Yeah, and if we don't, then either one of us will be this baby gator's mommy." Goofy added while pointing at the egg in Mushu's hands, which made both Mushu and Iago's eyes widen in horror as they thought on what would happen if the egg did hatch around them.

* * *

Imaginary world:

 _Mushu and Iago were both around the egg with fear, until the egg hatched with an adorable baby gator that spotted Mushu and said happily, "MOMMY!"_

 _"...Son?" Mushu squeaked fearfully._

 _Iago facepalmed himself, groaning, "Brother..." before saying to Mushu, "Before you mention anything, he's not and I repeat, NOT Mushu Jr. It's already bad enough for Al to confront a Jafar Jr. Besides, this guy's ain't even a dragon. He's an aligator. And a spooky one at that."_

 _At this moment, the baby aligator, feeling hungry and seeing Iago only as food, opened his jaws and grasped at the parrot's tail, causing Iago to scream out in agony before he ran around, yelling, "Get this aligator off me! Get this aligator off me!"_

* * *

Coming back to reality, Iago made a cut motion, saying, "Oh no! There is no way that we're even gonna keep this egg! Besides, I ain't gonna be gator-food!"

"And I ain't gonna be it's momma either." Mushu said in agreement.

"Then we'd better hurry and find the real eggs and return them back to their owners and then find Pete and get the chocoate back." Ven said with quick determination, still angered that Pete had caused trouble yet again. Hadn't that large guy learned his lesson already? Well, considering on what Pete did, obviously not.

"But how?" Donald asked, shrugging. "They could be anywhere."

"Well, Genie can help out with that problem." Terra reminded, knowing that their magical friend would find the eggs and Pete in no time flat.

"Yeah! Besides, ha-ha, Genie's our G-T-S:" Mickey tried not to laugh at the short name, translating to those in confusion like Goofy, Mushu, Ven, Aqua, and Iago, "Genie-Tracking-System."

The magical being in speaking suddenly bursted through the doors to outside, taking form a one-band musican with multiple instuments playing too loudly, with Zack who was playing the trumpet, Myde who was playing cymobels and Lann playing an accordion, following Genie who was marching his way around the group who all cringed and covered their ears as best as they could, while Mushu covered the egg so that it wouldn't shatter due to the unbearable noise Genie was making.

Vanitas, who was just arriving, stopped to cover his ears, cringing at the terrible noise that was making his ears ring an hurt, wondering what in the world was going on. He freaked out and jumped three feet into the air when Genie concluded the music, causing the raven-spiky haired teen to take cover underneath the table where the group was standing around, all groaning that their ears were now sore as well.

"G-T-S, huh?" Iago repeated, before saying sarcastically, "How 'bout G-H-S: Genie-Hurt-System." trying to clean his bearly visible ear out.

"What are you guys doing?" Terra asked, a little annoyed himself.

"Sorry, was that too loud?" Zack shrugged sheepishly once he, Myde, Lann and even Genie who turned back to his normal self saw how uncomfortable their friends looked, before Zack continued, "We were practicing for the Spring Concert."

"Well, you can practice as soon as we get back from another mission. Right now, we need Genie's help." Ven replied apologetically, before saying to Genie, "Genie, Pete's at it again. We're gonna need to find him since he stole all of the Easter Chocolate eggs and return the eggs he stole from nests back to their owners."

"Wait, what the honk?" Lann gasped, eyes wide, "Pete stole both our eggs and nest eggs!?"

"He's done it again." Myde groaned, slumping low.

Vanitas came out of his hiding place once he was certain that the noise was gone and told them emotionlessly, "Or you losers could take the easy route and use this map that fat guy dropped which I noticed."

Seeing Vanitas and while most of them didn't know who he was, Zack asked a little skeptically, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said, idiot." Vanitas rolled his eyes showing the group a piece of paper that was actually a map with pictures of eggs that marked the spot. On the bottom, it had Pete's name written on it. "Not to mention that there's a gigantic Condor Egg near the Ramuh momument."

"What!?" Mickey and everyone else exclaimed in horror on what they just heard.

"Uh, just for the record straight. By gigantic, do you mean the uh, giant Condor egg and not the normal sized Condor egg?" Iago asked, nervously.

Mushu was quivering, as he said, "You people realise that if we don't return that egg back to it's mother, she'll come straight for Radiant City and take out the town just to get her egg back, right?"

"Well then, we'll have to do the hunting and restore for Pete and the rest of the eggs ourselves." Ven nodded in agreement, "Genie, you take that Condor Egg back to it's mom before she finds out and fast."

Genie turned into a sargent while saluting to Ven in a sargent voice, "Yes sir, General Ventus!" before poofing away to head over to the momument in high-speed to do his job.

"Where did you get that guy?" Vanitas asked, skeptically.

"Long story." Mickey shrugged in embarrassment.

"We'll find them and then we'll have Pete face his punishment by the headmasters...again." Ven declared.

* * *

As agreed, Vanitas would come along for the search as he joined Ven, Mickey, Terra, Donald, Goofy and a reluctanted Iago to search all around the town to find the missing eggs Pete at stolen. They found eggs of chocobos and aligators and even Flamingos in places such as flower shops, the park, within a pond, a gap of rocks, in a tree, in the bushes and returned them as many mothers as possible.

One Chocobo Egg was within a temple-like cave that had the theme of boobytraps-Indiana Jones style, as Ven hesitedly approached the egg that was on a podium, somewhat glowing in the moon's light. Mickey, Terra, Donald, Vanitas and Iago approached him with Terra holding a chocolate egg that was the same size as the chocobo egg.

"It's chocolate. Should weigh just about the same." Terra said as in cordination, Ven took the real egg while Terra quickly placed the chocolate onto the platform as a replacement.

The group smiled when nothing happened before turning to leave. However, as they forgot someone, the cave suddenly rumbled and when they turned to look, to their dismay, Goofy had taken a bite out of the egg and happily at the top part of it while the rest of the chocolate sank into the rock, with Goofy oblivious as he said, "Ah-yhuck! Who knew chocolate tasted best in egg form?"

"Oh, Goofy!" Mickey groaned, before his and everyone else's eyes widened as a giant boulder began to roll towards them that was threatening to squash them flat.

"Let's worry about whacking Goof-brain later and get outta here!" Iago cried out hysterically.

Mickey, Ven and Vanitas instantly grabbed hold of Goofy who screamed and soon they, Donald, Terra and Iago all screamed as they ran(flew in Iago's case) for their lives for the exit with the boulder gaining on them. They all made it just in time as they went flying out just as the boulder blocked the cave. They all landed on top of each other in a pile, though thankfully they didn't squash the chocobo egg. Bad news is, all of the others were squashing Iago who was underneath his friends, once again suffering karma.

"You idiot! You nearly got us killed!" Vanitas yelled at Goofy who blinked sheepishly.

"Sorry." Goofy mumbled.

"Well, at least we got the egg." Mickey pointed out optimistically, holding it out in his hand that he managed to catch when Terra accidently dropped it and before it would smash into pieces. So the last egg was safe.

Iago pulled himself out in tough struggle and pain, as he grunted, "Y-yeah. Whoop-di-do." before passing out from exhaustion.

"All we have to do now is return it and then find Pete." Ven said, confident.

"I'm never going egg hunting again." Donald grumbled.

* * *

Meanwhile, Reno and Lea had managed to get away from Eraqus and had instead focused on their latest prank. This time it's done by a new book both of them saw recently. They were on top of hill which the rest of the hill itself was covered in series of numberous booby traps from pirannas that were gagged by rope to large rock traps that would smash a person flat, crab claws, a spider pitch and rope traps.

...That's a bit of an overkill, don't you think?

"Okay. Those traps are on a hare-trigger." Reno explained to Lea, grinning, "One goes off, they all go off! Soon as she comes up...Bam!" he said this while accidently puched his cusion in the nose, knocking Lea backwards, but not into the traps, thankfully.

While whining for his sore nose, Lea stood up while rubbing it, before asking, "Brillent, cos'. But why would Teef' come here?"

"Simple. I left a note." Reno said, proudly.

Lea suddenly became worried as he hesitatedly pulled something out of his pockets, asking nervously, "Uh, you mean this note?"

Seeing the note, now Reno was horrified before groaning, "Ah, hell. Looks like we're gonna be here a while." looking around as both he and Lea realised that they were stuck until someone finds them and goes up to the trap to become their victum, as they realised that Tifa wasn't going to be their victum of April Fools day this year.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pete was relaxing on a hammock in the forest near a cabin, having some juice and had thousands of chocolate easter eggs next to him that he hasn't touched yet, though wrapping paper of chocolate eggs that were eaten were scattered all over the place on the ground.

"This is the best Easter I've ever had." Pete was saying to himself, beginning to nod off, "Best part is, nobody can find me here."

"Guess again, Pete." A voice told him coldly.

This made Pete jerk up before he accidently got tangled in his hammock that spun several times in high speed as he screamed while getting dizzy before it untangled him and he collasped to the ground hard face first, as stars circled around his head. When he pulled his face off as it was briefly stuck to the ground, and his head to rid the dizzy spells, his eyes widened as the very rivals he thought he avoided stood right there; Mickey, Ven, Terra, Donald, Vanitas, Goofy and Iago stood glaring down at him with angry expressions.

"What? But, but, but, but...!" Pete babbled in disbelief.

Iago noticed the eggs on all over the place and said, "Sheesh, you'd think he stole all of the chocolate eggs from Radiant City in general."

"Hand them over, Pete." Mickey demanded.

"If you know what's good for you." Terra added with a tone of warning.

Pete quickly stood up and began to plead scaredly, "No! It's not what you think! I was just, just, just..."

Vanitas rolled his eyes, muttering, "Forget it. Nobody's gonna believe your lies, especially since there's evidence right there on our face." pointing at the chocolate flakes all around Pete's face.

"Well...uh...I guess...I'll be goin'!" Pete declared, grabbing the basket of the chocolate eggs and made a run for it, but with Mickey and the others hot on his tail so that they could stop him.

"Get back here, Pete!" Ven shouted as he and his friends gave chase.

Pete just turned his head as he continued to run forward, giving the group a raspberry. Unfortunately, he wasn't looking where he was going as he accidently tripped and fell forward, rolling down a hill leading back into the city, and accidently throwing all of the eggs into the air as they began to descend.

Mickey and the others cried out as they all quickly jumped and slid down the grassy hill, catching as many eggs as they could. Iago even managed to catch three that were bigger than him before skidding to a stop while the others and the rest of the eggs continued on. Seeing how he managed to catch a few, the red parrot sighed in relief, muttering, "Phew! At least I caught some without crashing."

As the group continued to roll down, Pete who was seeing this made an attempt to catch the eggs himself by fighting off his rivals who caught eggs while tossing them to each other to avoid Pete in re-stealing them. It was awkward but eventually, most were caught and one was still descending down towards them. Pete forcefully shoved both Goofy and Vanitas out of the way before going to attack Ven and Terra. Donald managed to catch the last egg, but he hit a rock which caused him to toss the egg back up into the air.

Pete managed to catch it and laughed evilly, until Mickey came parrealing down after giving Ven the eggs he caught before he came next to him and thrusted for the egg, clinging onto it as Mickey attempted to pull it out of Pete's grasp.

"Let go of my egg, mouse!" Pete demanded.

"No! You let go! It doesn't belong to you!" Mickey yelled as he fought against his arch-rival in a tug-of-war in a desperate attempt to reclaim the egg.

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Mickey, look out!" Ven cried out in alarm.

Mickey and Pete both looked ahead of them and their eyes widened in horror as a slope along with a rock came into view that they were getting closer and closer to. Both made a desperate attempt to reclaim the egg quickly to avoid in being flown into the hair that would no doubt cause them to break something, mainly the egg and a couple of fractures.

Mickey then noticed a tree coming into view and quickly had an idea. With all his might, he managed to snatch the egg from Pete, bonk him in the head with a kick and then once the tree was close enough, used his tail to grab onto which saved him and the egg from descending.

The same couldn't be said for Pete as he continued to slid down, going faster and faster, which made Mickey joke, laughing, "Goin' down! Ha-ha!"

"You'll pay for this, Mickey Mouse!" Pete shouted as he quickly regained consciousness, but unfortunately for him, he was flown off of the slope and went flying into the air before hanging for a few seconds.

"Aw nuts..." Pete muttered as he broke the fourth wall again, before descending, screaming...

Right into Reno and Lea's booby trap. Pete was first attacked by the piranna's that bit him all over the place before he leaped in panic but was caught in another trap by having thorns prickle him, and the two rocks slamming him in unison, being dumped by a bucket of rocks and daddy-long-legged-spiders, and other things that caused him pain, which awoke Reno and Lea from their nap as the two redheads watched in realization that not only they were safe to move now, but a new target that was much better to torture than Tifa was caught in their trap.

Finally, Pete was tied up and gagged by the ropes and hit on the head by a wrench, causing him to be seeing stars and his eyes twitched.

"You've been April Fooled, Pete!" Reno and Lea both said in unison with grins, cheering as they high-fived, saying, "April Fools!"

In the meantime, Mickey and the others were brought back to the ground safely with all of the eggs with them, as Vanitas admitted, "Well, I gotta say, mouse. That was pretty impressive going up against that fat lard."

"You were great, Mickey!" Ven contragulated.

Mickey blushed in embarrassment, "Aw, gosh, fellas." before saying, "Hey, I think it's time to return the chocolate eggs to the rest of Radiant City and then head back to the Academy to hide the other Chocolate eggs."

Just then, a battered up Genie appeared, saying as though nothing happened to him, "Leave the hiding chocolate easter eggs to me, Mickey! I'll do the honors!"

"Hey, what happened to you?" Goofy asked, noticing the magical being's injuries.

Genie, recalling how he was battered up in the first place, shrugged sheepishly, "Well, let's just say that the mother Condor thought I stole the egg and tried to have me for lunch." twingling his fingers and thumbs.

"AAAAHHH!" A scream filled the air, alerting the group and even Reno and Lea, as they all noticed the meerkat Timon was running away with a newly hatched baby gator biting his tail, as Timon screamed out in animal language that both Iago and Genie could understand, "Get this ugly chicken off me! Get this ugly chicken off me!"

Nearby, the warthog Pumbaa, thinking that he was the mother of the baby, battered his eye lashes, saying as he found the scene adorable, "Aw, would you look at that? Pumbaa Jr.'s hungry."

"I'm glad it was him and not me." Iago sighed in relief, while feeling a little sorry for the meerkat.

With that, after Mickey and the others, including Reno and Lea since their April Fools quest was complete, returned to Radiant City and returned the chocolate eggs Pete had stolen before Genie hid new chocolate eggs around the Academy for the younger students such as Sora, Riku and Kairi to find and play with, while the rest of the group, having invited Vanitas as their thanks to him for helping them out, enjoyed the Spring Festival and Easter Feast and even the Spring Concert.

As for Pete's punishment, well...he was on cleaning duty once more.

"Well, could be worse." Pete said to himself, as he opened the door to clean one of the class-rooms and...splash!

A bucket of water that was sitting on top of the door fell down and not only Pete was soaking wet, but now the bucket was stuck over his head as he tried to get it off with futile struggle. Nearby, Zidane, who was also pranking on people, snickered to himself before muttering, "April Fools" before taking his leave before he could get caught.

This is why people should always be prepared for anything on Easter and April Fools day.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Again, I am so sorry for the delay and that I couldn't finish this last year, but at least a new chapter is finally posted after a loss of inspiration of this story. None the less, I will continue this and eventually finish it.**

 **Until then, please look forward to more chapters in the future and...HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!**


	16. Episode 16: Dark Prophet Motive

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: I'm seriously bad when it comes to updates. Severe apologies for this, guys. Since this story is slowly coming to a close(with four, five or six more episodes to go), things will be getting darker and the final three episodes will be featuring the nightmare guest in this episode.**

 **Just wish Square Enix would hurry up and finish Kingdom Hearts 3 for 2018, because I seriously don't want to wait for another four years and this ends up a decade long wait of Final Fantasy XV all over again.**

 **Anyway, get ready for more unexpected.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 16: Dark Prophet Motive.

 _ **Long ago, there lived an evil giant dragon, Maleficent, who once took form of an evil enchantress, but her lust for power not only took her life from a noble Prince, but her ressurrection changed her into a mindless black dragon, guarding a prodigious treasure plundered from a thousand caravans.**_

 _ **All who tried to steal Maleficent's treasure and learn of her origins fell victim to her flames and eyes of destruction. A young man, whom was a powerful sorcerer who had imprisoned a dark god recently, cast a spell on Maleficent, turning the Dragon into stone.**_

 _ **For many centuries, none of this has mattered.**_

 _ **Until now.**_

* * *

 _Mickey didn't know where he was, but all he could say was that he was in a very old looking village with stone buildings. But what really drew his attention was a huge mountain that dominated the landscape, it's shadow cast over the village. As the sun was setting, the mountain, which was made of black stone, seemed to be glowing in green. Just as the sun had faded completely, the mountain suddenly took form and take shape. A heavy pure cloud of darkness rose from the peak and churned, writhing like endless serpants, until it coalesced into a massive shape._

 _Standing on top of the mountain was the mother of all nightmares. A massive gargoyle like figure with giant bat-like wings, it's body ripping with muscles and it's eyes burning yellow set over a leering mouth of massive fangs. It's head was topped with horns settled for goat-like ears. The giant monster's long arms ended in powerful hands capped with vicious claws._

 _Mickey shivered in fear, his heart pounding roughly in his chest that he was afraid that it would burst. He slowly backed away as silently as he could, terrified beyond belief. Unfortunately, the giant demon saw him and held a terrifying grin as it's eyes perched and locked right onto the poor mouse's shivering and quivering small form. Realising that he was seen, Mickey turned and made a run for it only to accidently trip and fall onto the ground which slowed him down._

 _He only had enough time to look behind him and letting out a terrified scream as the demon's massive claw-like hand reached out to grasp him. From close up, it was about the size of a single helicopter, if not bigger. Mickey braced himself as he was engulfed by the darkness of the demon's hand..._

* * *

In Reality...

"...And that's how the dream ended." Mickey concluded after he recounted the horrible nightmare he experienced the night before to Ven, Terra, Lea, Isa, and Goofy along with Iago and Mushu while the eight of them were out in the streets of Radiant City, on their way back to the Academy after a day out, which Mickey had suggested to clear his head as much as possible from the darkest of all nightmares.

"Gawrsh, I'd be screamin' awake from that nightmare too." Goofy shuddered, rubbing his arms as though he was feeling cold.

Even Lea seemed rather spooked by what his friend had gone through. "You're tellin' me. Even the worst of the horror movies aren't that bad compared to what Mick' had dreamt about." he said.

Mushu, who had been in deep thought about this, then realised something and said, "You know, I think I've heard of somethin' of that kind of shape in the afterlife." and when everyone else turned their attention to him, he continued, "Not sure if it's the same guy, but legend says that back around many centuries ago, that an evil demon who ruled Bald Mountain usually comes out at night and preform dark ceromonies with spirits, ghosts and other demons until sun up."

Hearing this made Mickey's stomach lurch as he gulped scaredly. Could it be a coincidence that he dreamt up the very same demon? This was very unusual. He had nightmares of giants before, and had seen demons in movies and read up a little bit about them, but never had any nightmares or heard of any giant demons.

"Wait a minute, I've heard of this guy." Iago groaned, "They say that he was imprisoned to that rock mountain by a sorcerer who just left apprentinceship." having also heard the stories of the demon in the past at some point.

"How did he survive?" Ven asked, blinking. "I mean, if he just left apprentinceship like that, then I guess the guy who imprisoned the demon was a real powerful sorcerer if he was capable of doing something like that."

"I don't think he did survive, Ven." Terra pointed out, "Even if he was a powerful sorcerer, he still would've died by doing that." concerned on the situation.

Isa shrugged, "Well, whatever it is, I doubt that the legend is true. In the meantime, we should head back to the academy."

"Well, I'm certainly not goin' back to sleep for a while, that's for sure." Mickey shook his head. The more he heard about this, the more he found himself more curious and he desperatedly wished that he wasn't.

"Perhaps I can help you get proper sleep without nightmares." A new and strangely to Mickey, Mushu and Iago, familiar voice spoke behind the group as they turned around to see a slightly familiar tall old man in a blue robe and a pointy hat, having a gray beard and hair.

While Ven, Terra, Lea, Isa and Goofy didn't recongise him, Mushu and Iago glanced at each other while having trouble remembering who this guy is, Mickey's eyes widened in shock and horror as he was the only one who recongised him. A memory instantly returned to him to the last day of the previous year...

* * *

 _FlashBack-Back in Episode 1:_

 _Mickey suddenly felt someone grab hold of his arm and he cried out in fright. He looked behind to see a tall man in a blue robe and a pointy hat, having a gray beard and hair. The grip was very tight, Mickey mentally panicked._

 _"A word of warning to the young and overly curious." said the man. "Those who do not know of the dangers of certain things, will find themselves casted upon by mysterious forces."_

* * *

Mickey shook in fear as he recalled the warning. Since that magic mirror incident, he'd been taking things more cautionly despite still being the same he always was.

"Oh, great, an old fortune teller asking Mick' to look into a crystal ball." Iago groaned, only to squawk in alarm as the tall man glared at him.

"Appearances can be deceiving, raucous one. I may be old, but I see more than you, for I see... the future." The man told the parrot.

"And I see...a rip-off!" Iago said dismissively.

Lea facepalmed himself as he gave Iago an annoyed glare, saying, "If there's a future I'd like to see, it's to see you not to make any bad comments on people, unless they're bad guys."

"We're sorry for his behavior, sir." Ven told the old man apologetically, "And, um, we don't have anything much on us right now." sheepishly rubbing the back of head.

To Ven's surprise, the old man shook his head, saying, "I did not mention money, young man. However, seeing as how I dress, I must be from a festival. You see, as I've said before, appearences can be deceiving."

"Um, well, thanks but no thanks." Terra told him.

"Before you go," The old man told the group just as they turned to leave which caused them to stop, "I understand that many are afraid of the dark future that is yet to come. There are many dangers that lie ahead of you and your friends."

"He's hooked." Mushu muttered to Isa while pointing at Terra who was shocked at what the old man was saying.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lea asked, skeptically.

"Uh, guys? I don't think makin' him mad is such a good idea." Mickey told his friends cautionly, remembering how terrifying the old man was on New Year's Eve. As far as he was aware, the old man was just like the headmasters of the academy, if not more stern, but not as scary as Eraqus and Xehanort.

The old man however was unfazed by Lea's comment, and then waved about his hands, muttering, "I see...a lingering near dark future rising." which they somehow glowed.

While the group were stunned by this, they were in more shocked as the scenary around them morhped into a completely different dimension of gray swirling clouds that was making them nervous. A magic cloud of swirls of green and red appeared in front of the group, mainly in front of Terra who blinked in shock even further, which told him and his friends that the dark near future was his upcoming future.

" _ **You will race to save a friend so thin,**_

 _ **A dark ship flies, you cannot win,**_

 _ **A pick you will find among the bones,**_

 _ **Then meet your doom upon the stones.**_ " A voice had spoken.

As as quick as the mist had arrived, it disappeared and Terra and his friends found themselves back in the real world with the old robed man who's expression has somehow changed to slight grief but understanding and sternness.

"The mists of time have spoken." The old man concluded.

The group looked very uneasy as they all shared a worried glance at what's yet to come. While it sounded like poetry as the words had rhymed, it still sounded dark and horrible. Goofy then hesitatedly asked, "Gawrsh, what about the rest of us?"

The old man waved his hand again and a smaller dust of cloud appeared in front of them. It created an image of Terra lying on the ground, motionless and still, as though he was dead, with Ven, Mickey, Lea, Isa, Goofy, Donald, Iago, Mushu, and Aqua surrounding him, reduced to tears and sobs. The image then vanished as the old man concluded, "I see you all grieving over his motionless form."

"No..." Ven muttered, breathless in shock. Terra, his best friend, was going to die? The sixteen year old shook his head and said, "No way! That can't be true! I won't let Terra die anytime soon! Not while I'm still around!"

"Oh, this is ridiculous." Terra sighed, not believing what he just saw. "I'm in control of my own destiny, just like most other people."

"There are some things that even I do not know. However, appearences can be deceiving." The old man told the group, "Be on your guard."

"Wait!" Mickey cried out just as the old man started to leave. "Um...W-what about that terrible dream that I'm having? I-is it really true, or is it just a nightmare?"

The old man, seeing how serious yet frightened Mickey was, not only from what he and his friends had seen, but also from the horrible nightmares the poor mouse had the night before. The man gazed down at the teenage mouse's eyes, speaking a bit more softly this time, "It depends on what is yet to come, young one. For now, you must focus on what is most important to you."

With that, the old man walked away and was gone, leaving the stunned group behind.

"Okay, I'm startin' to think that, that wasn't some old fortune teller kind of guy." Lea muttered, a little scaredly.

"Am I the only one having an anxiety attack?" Iago asked nervously.

Mushu shook his head, "No way, man. Whoever that guy was, I have a feelin' he was a wizard or somethin'." before admitting, "Ya' know, I kind of like how he used that sort of cloudy stuff."

" _'To save a friend so thin'_. I wonder who that can be?" Terra muttered, thinking over the first part of the prophecy.

Iago cleared his throat before taking a deep breath and sucked in his gut as much as possible to make himself look so thin. The others gave him a skeptical look as Mushu pointed at himself saying that he was thin; thinner than Iago will ever be. Goofy looked at him and lift his jumper up, wondering if he was the thinnest one out. He then took out a waist mesuring type from nowhere and wrapped around himself while checking the size, before doing the same with Mickey, Ven, Lea, Mushu and Iago, calculating all of the sizes he'd checked up.

"It's not any one of us, in case you guys haven't noticed." Isa pointed out, "The only one I can think of that is thin is that magical Carpet Genie likes to bring up once and a while."

"Who, Reddy?" Lea asked, blinking. "Last time that Carpet got into trouble was when it was accidently caught in the Ukubuut's web before he saved us from falling."

In case some of you don't know, Reddy is the new name of the red Carpet that Genie summons in many occusions, like back in Episode 12 for example.

"I think the readers already got that in mind, lady." Lea said to the Authoress(Me) while breaking the fourth wall.

"Hey, I'm writing the episode here. In the meantime, ignore me and pretend that I don't exist." I said in annoyance from my computer. Anyway, back to the story.

Speaking of Reddy, the group suddenly heard a whooshing above them and before they could even look up to see what was going on, immediately Aqua, Donald and Genie came rushing over in panic and worry which got their friend's attentions.

"Guys! Two men and a woman have kidnapped Reddy!" Aqua cried out, while trying to catch her breath.

"There was a thin guy, a big fat guy and a pink-dressed lady with a hand-fan!" Donald added hysterically, waving his arms about like a mad person while Mickey and Goofy grabbed hold of their friend and shook him to calm him down.

"Donald! Hold on! Get a grip!" Mickey hurriedly told his friend.

"Looks like you were right, Isa." Lea told Isa, worriedly.

"Genie! We need some sort of transportation!" Ven immediately told their magical friend.

Genie himself saluted with a grin, saying, "I've got just the thing!" before magically brought an eleven seat convertible and changed into a drive as he took the driver's seat. Ven and the others immediately all jumped in before they drove off and followed the direction where Reddy was heading towards to against it's will. Reddy himself was having slight trouble with it's passengers, one thin man named Logos, the bulky man named Ormi, and their boss the woman named Leblanc, grinned as they rode on top of the Carpet they had captured Reddy.

"Stop, thieves!" Ven shouted once he and his friends were close enough as they found Reddy and it's captors.

The trio looked down behind them as they noticed a group of teenagers riding in a ridiculously long convertible, chasing after them. Leblanc frowned, unimpressed. "Hmph, we have kinder gardeners chasing after us. We must avoid them or if we have to, stop them from gaining out plans."

"Witless little widgets, aren't they?" Logos muttered.

"Try all you want, brats, but you'll never catch us! Bwahahah!" Ormi laughed evilly.

Ven and his friends continued to chase the thieving trio through out Radiant City and outside of the city, all the way to a quint sea-side village not too far from here but were forced to stop while Leblanc, Logos and Ormi flew over the ocean and forcing Reddy towards a black ship. Genie pulled the car to a stop before making it disappear and turned into a pelican. Ven and the others could only watch as they stood on a pier.

"We're too late!" Goofy cried out in dismay.

"Just like the old man predicted!" Mushu said, worriedly.

" _"The dark ship flies; you cannot win"_!" Terra grunted angrily.

Iago, while worried for a moment, then shrugged it off, saying, "Well, that's that. When we get back to the Academy, let's send out for falafel."

"We haven't lost yet!" Lea told him, not willing to give up just yet.

Mickey and the others looked around for any kind of boat before noticing an aligator in a sailor's shirt and red cap on his head pulling a net with fish in it. Next to him was a boat. Getting an idea, Mickey Mouse raced over along with his friends to the aligator named Ali and asked, "Excuse me, sir, is your boat seaworthy?"

Ali noticed the group and began to reply, "Well, yes..."

"We'll take it!" Donald declared after handing over a wad of cash out of nowhere(with the money checker dinging in the background) to Ali before he and everyone else got into the rather slightly rundown speed boat with a sail, pushing it into the water and set sail.

"But..." Ali began to protest in shock, but it was too late as Ven and his friends had already left. Left in shock, he broke the fourth wall and said, "That's not my boat!" with a dumbfounded expression.

* * *

By the time the group had noticed that the sail had zillions of holes in it, they were already in the middle of the water, as Isa muttered grumpily, "I think we overpaid. Gonna need a new sail."

"I'll do better than that." Genie told his friends, as he goes to the back of the boat, pulls on his hair, and makes sounds like an outboard motor starting up. Then he puts his face in the water and uses it as a motor, speeding their boat towards the black ship where Leblanc and her cohots who had sewed Reddy to the sail of the ship were.

When Leblanc heard a motor sound, she turned and growled angrily as she realised that the students of Radiant Academy were catching up. She turned to the Carpet and snapped her fingers at Logos who nodded and pulled out a jar filled with moths, while Ormi turned to the audience while breaking the fourth wall, explaining, "Note: piranha moths. From the Congo."

Back on the group's boat, Terra was explaining to Aqua and Donald on what he and the others had heard from the old man in Radiant City, "...Then he said, _"A pick you'll find among the bones, then meet your"..._ uh...um, uh, I - I forgot the rest of it." hesitating on whether he should tell them about the last part of not.

"Are you kiddin'? That's the best part! _"Meet your doo-"_ " Iago was cut off when Mushu clamped his beak shut. Unfortunately, Aqua and Donald both heard it.

Seeing how he wasn't getting out of it, Terra sighed and concluded, a little regrettably, " _"Meet your doom upon the stones."_ " to which Aqua gasped in horror while covering her mouth, which had Terra quickly add, "It's just a lot of mumbo-jumbo! Doesn't mean a thing!"

"Uh, guys?" Mushu muttered after he looked up, his eyes going wide.

"But racing to save a thin friend! He was right about that." Aqua pointed out, gravely.

"Well, he also said that a black ship would fly." Terra added with a shrug.

"Guys?" Mushu squeaked, pointing a shaking finger behind the others.

"...But you don't see that hap...en...ing..." Terra trailled off nervously as he and everyone else turned around, suddenly finding himself corrected as Leblanc's ship is heading straight towards them with Reddy tied up to the sail.

Lea gapped his mouth open in shock, speechless, while Isa's eyes widened, muttering, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

To make matters worse, as the ship hovered almost above them, Logos and Ormi tossed a net down towards them. Ven and the others tried to escape but it was too late as the net drops on them and catches everyone escape for Iago who managed to narrowly escape but he was shocked and horrified that his friends had all been captured. Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Mushu, and Genie all struggled to escape and break free, while Ormi and Logos, at Leblanc's command and to their annoyance, began to reel the group in while turning the winch which was Physical labor and hard.

Ven then had an idea and told Genie, "Genie, go check on Reddy!"

"Aye aye, sir!" Genie saluted, or at least, he tried to without hurting the others. Anyway, he turns himself into a fly and flies away to check up on Reddy.

"You could've at least told him to get us out first." Lea pointed out in annoyance at the lack of thinking from his blond-haired friend.

Ven shrugged, "Why? We wanted to catch up with those guys, and that's where we're headed."

"Yeah, that's a good thing." Donald said sarcastically.

Jus then the group noticed something heading towards their direction which made them all scream. They were heading straight towards the sharp rocks! Immediately, Mickey and Ven both pushed a reluctanted Mushu out of the net while the former called out, "Iago! Hurry!"

"I know, I know, save the dragon." Iago groaned as he quickly grabbed hold of the miniture dragon by the arms with his talons and flew away while grumbling, "Isn't it enough I gotta risk life and limb? Now I gotta risk being barbaqued!"

"Don't you care about anybody else but yourself!?" Mushu yelled angrily at the parrot.

"Guys, help me lift!" Ven called out to his friends.

Not even a second when the group tried to lift themselves and the net up as much as possible with the rope. Fortunately, they barely miss the sharp rocks, and sigh with relief. Goofy wiped sweat that formed on his forehead, muttering, "Whew! That was close."

"Too close." Mickey nodded in agreement, gulping nervously.

Finally, Logos and Ormi pulled the captured group onto the deck of the ship and held sinister looks at the students who glared at the duo and Leblanc back, as the woman muttered with a sinister grin, "Well, what have we here? Persistent, aren't you?"

"You won't get away with this!" Mickey yelled at Leblanc.

"Give us back our Carpet now!" Donald added with an angry fist.

"Didn't you children ever learn to share?" Leblanc's grin only grew.

Lea gave the woman a skeptical look, saying, "Stealing is a different matter of sharing, and you stole our Carpet, lady."

"To what? Fly your dumb over-rated tug boat? If you wanted to fly, you could've just brought an airplane instead." Isa added with a nod, while in the background, Ormi was swatting at a fly who was actually Genie who flew over secretly to Ven.

"Should I make with the semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers?" Genie whispered.

Ven shook his head, whispering in return, "Not yet. I wanna find out about what these guys are up to." which had Genie nod before he flew away.

"Why are you doing this? What is it that you want?" Aqua demanded.

"Well, considering how you're all prisoners, loves, I'll give in the information." Leblanc shrugged, before explaining, "I'm searching for the treasure of Maleficent. Imagine all the riches it could bring. It all comes down to being a treasure hunter."

"Maleficent... huh." Ven muttered, before he and his friends all giggled.

"Come on, Maleficent's just a myth." Terra snorted.

"Myth you say?" Leblanc smirked which made the others lose their smiles, as she continued, "It's a cover-up. And I have learned the location of her secret castle."

However, Ormi glanced to ahead of them and blinked, before speaking to Leblanc, "Uh, boss? We're approaching Maleficent's castle."

"So it seems." Logos muttered in agreement.

Leblanc gazed at the same direction, before admitting, "Hmm, a little off centre, but at least it's a lot quicker than I had plotted."

"One more thing, boss." Ormi spoke up, holding up a miniture bottle which had Genie in his fly form before turning into a minuture Genie, much to Ven and his friends' shock and horror. "I caught this that was driving me crazy."

Logos approached his comrade to get a better look, before stating, "Hmm, it appears to be a genie. Absolutely powerless when confined."

"Well, well, well. It appears that you children are more than I bargained for. Having a magic carpet and a genie with you." Leblanc giggled evilly while Ven's group glared at her in anger. She then turned to her cohots, commanding, "Lock these brats up in the cell."

* * *

As soon as Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald and Goofy were all tossed into the cells in the bottom of the ship, Logos, Ormi and Leblanc all chuckled as the latter told them, "Now be good children and stay there until we find a more permemant spot for you to spend the rest of your days locked up." shutting the door behind her.

"Hey, come back here!" Lea shouted, but by then it was too late.

"Now what're we do?" Goofy asked, worried.

"There's just gotta be a way to get outta here and save Genie. We just need something to pick the cell's lock." Mickey told his friends while he paced around, thinking deeply at the same time.

Lea and the others sighed and slumped a little, as the redhead muttered, "Well, unless we use the fingers of these skeletions with us, the best way outta here is to use a paperclip, and all the paperclips are back at the Academy."

Just by this statement, Ven immediately reached over and snapped one of the skeletion fingers from the skeletion, which made Isa and Donald grimice, before the blond-haired teen reached over and began to pick the lock with the skeletion which by this sight made his friends both surprised and rather impressed.

"Ya' know, if it weren't that you were gonna be SOLDIER someday, you'd be making a living in being a Turk, Ven." Lea said to his friend, very impressed.

After a few tries, Ven successfully unlocked the lock, opening the cell door before he and his friends all walked out, freed. The teenager grinned as he muttered, "Now that's what I call a skeletion key."

Despite this, Lea then realised what happened and came this close in smacking himself, as he remembered, "It's getting closer. _"A pick you'll find among the bones"_ "

" _"Then meet your doom"_..." Terra concluded, as he felt Aqua's hand touch his own. He could sense that she was frightened, frightened of losing him.

"We'll figure something out! We're not losing you, Terra!" Ven protested with determination, only for the entire ship to jolt violently and caused everyone to nearly lose their balance. "Outside!"

"Let's go!" Aqua told her friends who all nodded and they raced outside to see what was going on.

* * *

At the same time, Mushu and Iago were both with Reddy, trying to figure something out. While the small dragon was busy pulling out the stitches to get the carpet free, Iago was pacing back and forth on the mast, saying, "OK, OK, as soon as Genie gets them free, you rip out those stitches, and we're outta here. Got it?"

"You could help you know, Iago. I'm doin' all the work here." Mushu grumbled while having paused his work. He and Iago then noticed Leblanc, Logos and Ormi leaving the ship once they had reached the destination, only for Reddy, who also noticed, to start panicking and tried to free itself which was causing all the rocking on the ship.

"Hey, hey! Chill your tassels, man! You wanna make us crash land!?" Mushu cried out to try and calm Reddy down, but to avail.

"Hey, simmer down! We'll rescue the others in a minute!" Iago cried out.

However, it was too late as Reddy rips himself almost all the way out, knocking down Mushu who screamed before grabbing hold of a rope on his way down to prevent himself from falling. However, despite Iago's horrified warning, Reddy at last pulled himself completely free which caused the ship to start falling.

" _ **Aaaugh!**_ " Mushu screamed hysterically. "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! No way we'd survive this! Death is coming!"

"Uh oh." Iago who was hovering, muttered as Reddy realised what he did. "We blew it."

Ven and the others had just came out onto the deck just as Mushu accidently swinged towards them in panic, hitting Ven in the face, causing him to knock into Terra and creating a domino effect as the group fall over the side of the ship and start yelling. They fall through some clouds; a second later they come flying back through the clouds on Reddy who had just flew into the clouds to rescue the group while Iago flew over towards the castle to wait for them. The group all sighed in relief.

"Heh, you weren't worried, were you Mushu?" Terra asked to the small dragon who shrugged it off.

"Me? Worried? No, just um..." Mushu paused before screaming out, "OVERLY PANICKED!" before passing out onto Reddy.

"We still have to rescue Genie from those thieves." Aqua told everyone else.

"They must've went into the castle already." Isa nodded towards the said castle.

Ven, determinded to put an end to this, nodded and said, "It's not or never. Lets go."

* * *

Meanwhile, while Leblanc, Ormi and Logos had opened the castle doors and were astonded and delighted to see such treasure, their gazes turned to the statue of Maleficent herself in her dragon form with two emeralds for eyes, Iago was just outside, pacing while trying to calm down and not panic.

"Oh, boy. If they're not back in ten minutes, I call all the hospitals." Iago decided. He then stopped and shuddered, "Then I gotta explain to everybody else at the Academy how they lost eight students."

Not even a second after he said this when Iago saw the said eight students along with Mushu and Reddy landing next to him. Annoyed, the parrot flew towards them, grumbling, "Take a little longer next time! Oh, why don't you just go for some espresso?" only to notice something in Ven's hand, plucking the bone finger out from the teenager's grasp, "Wait a minute, what, praytell, have we here?"

"That's just a bone Ven used to get us out of the cell." Mickey answered.

"You mean you found the pick among the bones?" Iago asked, before tossing the bone away, shrugging before muttering to Terra, "Eh, that's it. Prophecy fulfilled. You're dead, Ter'."

"Forget the prophesy!" Terra grunted a little too snappy. "Hey, who's in charge of my destiny, anyway? I am, that's who! Not some blue-robed fortune teller!"

' _Coulda fooled me. He's the same fella who warned me about the mirror and I didn't even listen._ ' Mickey thought worriedly, but decided not to voice it.

"Let's go before they decide to wake up the giant lizard or somethin'!" Lea told the others to get with the program.

Mushu, who had woken up, slapped a hand to his face in annoyance, before correcting the redheaded teen, "Geez, don't you people get the differences right? Dragons don't do that tongue thing, remember? We breathe fire, and in the lady's case, she can probably fly and I can't."

"Gee thanks for putting that image in my head." Donald grumbled.

"Reddy, let's go!" Ven told the red Carpet who carried him and the others into the castle where they found just in time to see Leblanc, Logos and Ormi climbing up the statue of the giant dragon that looked a lot more scarier than the group had imagined. To make things more complicated, they were grabbing at the emerald eyes.

"Stop! You can't do that!" Mickey cried out as he and the others landed on the ground.

"You again? You children are more annoying than I thought you would be." Leblanc grunted while helping Logos to pull out the emerald out of the right eye socket of the statue.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, lady." Lea said worriedly.

"You will all be quiet!" Leblanc yelled, "I do not take orders from anyone!"

However, just as she, Logos and Ormi succeeded in pulling both emeralds out, to their and everyone else's shock, a growling noise came from within the statue itself. It soon began cracking and even practically moved, causing the thieving trio to loose their grip and fall to the ground below, letting go of the emeralds they just pulled out. Ven, Terra, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Mushu, Iago and Reddy all backed away a little in slight fear, shock and horror, as the statue then returned into her black and green Dragon form with perching yellow eyes, small wings on her back and lets out a near deafening roar.

Maleficent the Dragon had awoken at long last! The dragon gazed down at the group who were frozen in fear. Quickly thinking that talking the way out might give them time, Mushu muttered to the fellow yet giant dragon at Leblanc as though he understood the silent question on who stole the emeralds from her body, "She did it."

Despite this, Maleficent swiped her tail at the group who tried to dodge out of the way. Unfortunately, Terra, who saw the tail coming towards Aqua who couldn't move in time, shoved her out of the way before he was knocked so hard that when he hit the wall, he cried out in pain before collasping to the floor, laying motionless and unmoving. Aqua and the rest of group gasped in horror as they all hurried to his side, while Maleficent turned her attention to the now horrified thieving trio who shuddered.

"Let's get outta here!" Ormi screamed hysterically, already running away. Leblanc and Logos were seconds behind him as Maleficent blasted green fire at them, attempting to burn them into crisp.

"Terra?" Aqua shook the very still Terra, starting to break down into tears.

"Hello?" Mushu called into Terra's ear, before he began slapping the young man's face, yelling, "Helloooo? HELLO!" but didn't help either.

The cold truth formed onto the group as they realised that it was no use.

Terra was gone.

"No...Terra...!" Ven sobbed, falling to his knees and sobbed, as did the rest of the group with tears falling, Donald and Goofy hugging each other, Mickey covering his eyes with his hands that were getting soaked, Lea crying onto Isa's shoulder while the latter held him, Mushu whimpering with tears and Aqua hugging Terra's body, all of them heartbroken for the loss of their friend, as they come to realise that the prophecy was true and Terra's fate had been sealed.

" _"And meet your doom upon the stones"_!" Iago sobbed, pulling out a handkerchief and blew his nose as he cried for the loss.

In the background, Maleficent was still attempting to kill Leblanc, Logos and Ormi who tried to reason with the evil dragon but Maleficent had long since lost her ability to speak, not to mention losing her memories of her life as an evil enchantress. By then, the entire treasure room was being wrecked, but that didn't matter to Aqua or the others at the moment. All that mattered to them was that they had lost a lover and a best friend.

Or, so it seemed.

Suddenly, Terra opened his eyes, whispering, "Psst! Aqua."

Hearing his voice and when the group looked, seeing that he was alright and alive, stunned the group beyond belief. Terra didn't die. He was still alive!

"Terra...!? I-I thought...you were..." Aqua muttered, speechless and unable to hold back the tears of relief and the shocked expression.

"Hey, appearances can be deceiving." Terra shrugged, deciding to explain that detail later, before gesturing at the group as an idea came into his head, "Okay, listen closely..." and when the group did, they listened to his plan before they all nodded in agreement, knowing what needs to be done in order to stop Maleficent once and for all.

As Maleficent had Leblanc, Logos and Ormi cornered to finish them off, she suddenly heard someone whistling behind her and turned to see Mickey, Lea, Isa, Aqua, Donald, Goofy, Mushu and Iago standing them glaring at her while the thieving trio used this distraction to sneak away.

"Maleficent! Stop this right now!" Aqua yelled at the giant black dragon. "Or you won't like what we're about to do!"

The black Dragon just grinned as she roared before reering back and blasted another flare of fire towards the group who, secretly grinning, leaped out of the way just in time as the fires that acted like a beam hit a shield that Ven and Terra were holding and hid behind. The fire bounces off it towards the ceiling just above Maleficent. To weaken it further, Mickey, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Donald and Goofy all tossed some other slightly heavy things like rocks towards the ceiling, weakening it even further.

Unable to move in time, Maleficent roared in horror for the first time in her life and just before she is buried, Terra grabbed hold of a sword and tossed it right at the dragon's chest, perfectly aimed right into her heart. The ceiling then caved in on Maleficent who was not only stabbed to death but also crushed to death. There was a moment of silence before mist of darkness faded through the rocks before disappearing, leaving behind a black and purple ragged cloak that once belonged to Maleficent in her enchantress form.

"Yeah! Whoo!" Lea cheered, sharing a high-five with both Donald and Isa.

"Hot dog! We did it!" Mickey cheered happily, hugging Goofy who chuckled happily.

"Heh. She won't be borthering anyone else again." Ven smiled happily.

Just then, the group heard panicked screams as they turned to see Leblanc, Logos and Ormi searching for what they realised was Genie in the bottle, but instead, they had they had was the bottle of moths that were released and were attempting to eat away their clothes. This caused the trio to run away, but not before Leblanc glared at the group, shouting, "I won't let you go easy on this!" before leaving.

"Huh? That can't be right." Ven thought, confused.

"Where's Genie?" Mickey shrugged, confused.

Donald, however, snickered before pulling out the very same bottle that was stolen from them in the first place, "I managed to sneak it away from those three while they were distracted."

"Oh Donald..." Aqua giggled along with everyone else, shaking their heads.

Genie in the meantime, relieved that everything was alright, muttered from his prison, "Oh, it's great to be back, Ven. Uh, now how about letting me out? I've got such a leg cramp!" grunting uncomfortably.

"I can imagine." Ven nodded in agreement.

"Well, all's well that ends well." Lea muttered, placing his hands behind his head with a grin.

"I'll say." Terra nodded in agreement while holding a very relieved Aqua in his arms.

Mickey in the meantime, while very relieved that Terra didn't die after all and that they had defeated Maleficent without any special kinds of abilities like the sorcerer had, he still couldn't help but wonder who the man in Radiant City was. In the meantime, he decided to worry about that later.

* * *

Back in Radiant City itself, the old man, who was indeed a powerful sorcerer, who had seen this through the use of magic, smiled at the group, proud of their accomplishments.

"You have done well, students of Radiant Academy. In the name of Yen Sid, I will watch over you." He said to himself, before fading the magic and turned to walk away.

Yen Sid had completed his new task. Who knew when the next one was. But one thing the powerful Sorcerer always knew, the next challenge may be just around the corner.

* * *

However, high from the building as he had watched Yen Sid leave, Hades, who had arrived from the Underworld to cause some trouble with a plan, was so angry that he was busy practicing shooting at paintings that his minions Pain and Panic were helping him with, before grunting as he cursed to himself, "I can't believe this guy and those kids! They even got rid of Maleficent which ruined my plans, and those brats haven't even-!"

He cut himself off when he heard a shoe squeak and looks down at Pain to see him wearing Radiant City trademark sneakers. Hades, baffled and getting more and more angrier by the minute, could only mutter slowly, "What...are...those?"

Embarrassed, Pain could only show off his new shoes and replied, "Um ... I don't know. I thought they looked kinda dashing."

"I've got less than three months to get rid of these bozos...or the entire scheme I've been plotting to get aid to find the mother of all demons goes up in smoke..." Hades began, before leering closer and closer to a now panicking Pain, flaring red and yellow in sheer anger, concluding as he shouted, "...and you are wearing this town's MERCHANDISE!?"

Just as Pain began to comically freak out as Hades made to attack him, instead of a scream, both of them heard slurping coming to the left(right in Pain's case). The two looked to see Panic drinking from a ShinRa trademark plastic cup. Realising that he was caught, Panic chuckled sheepishly and nervously, before scaredly offering to the two, "Heh...thirsty?"

That did it. Hades literally blew up in anger as he yelled in anger, blasting the two minions to the wall and briefly turning them black crisp.

It seems that things were about to get more and more serious.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Before you get the wrong idea, Hades won't make another appearence in the next chapter...or maybe he will. Who knows? Hope you liked this chapter too. See you in the next episode in the nearish future!**


	17. Episode 17: Garden of Nightmares

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Another episode, at your service, fellow readers. Oh, and uh, by the way, Spiritual Sister; While I agree with you on what you said in your review, I have to ask; why did you say what you said in the review when it has nothing to do with my story or anyone else's stories? That sort of thing has left nothing but major confusion and concerns for others on this site.**

 **Anyway, let's onward.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 17: Garden of Nightmares.

 _Mickey was having the nightmare again. He didn't know how he knew this, but once thing for certain, he was running away from the giant demon-monster that attempted to get to him. He ran through the stone houses of the village from the dark evil mountain. He didn't know where he was going, but Mickey didn't care. The monster's massive hand was seemingly catching up to him and it made him more frightened. So he forced himself to run faster._

 _He accidently tripped on a small pebble and tumbled down the rest of the way into the forest cannon-ball style, yelling along the way. Eventually Mickey Mouse nearly crashed into vine-like gates that unexpectedly slithered away as though it was expecting him and finally came to a stop right in front of giant doors that were made from trees and wood. Mickey shook his head as he pushed himself up, before a cold shadow loomed over him and he gasped, looking back just in time to see the massive black clawed hand about to engulf him._

 _Screaming in terror, Mickey leaped up and ran inside, barely escaping from being captured. Mickey made it and with all of his might and struggling, managed to close the door before backing away, collasping onto his bottom while trying to catch his breath. He desperately hoped that the demon wouldn't just barge through the doors or worse, crush whatever building he was in to just capture him._

 _All was silent. At least for now._

 _Sighing in relief, Mickey finally took notice of the building he was in...which caught him by surprise. It wasn't like any other buildings. It was more like...he just entered from one forest to another. And a beautiful one at that. Standing up, Mickey Mouse gazed at his surroundings._

 _"Wow..." Mickey muttered, astonded. "What a fasinating place!"_

 _Just then, light shined in front of him, and Mickey saw to his surprise, gleamed in the moonlight, was a harp that was made out of vines. Curiousity getting the better of him, Mickey approached it and when he stroked at the strings, it made a pretty sound that made him smile._

 _"Gosh, whoever made this place sure had a wonderful idea." Mickey thought to himself. "I wonder how long it took them to make this beautiful garden?"_

 _Unfortunately, as nightmares tend to sometimes have minds of their own, the moment Mickey had said that, the room suddenly darkened and instantly he first thought that the demon had found it's way in. But he was in for something different. The ground suddenly shook and a large vine broke through underground which caused Mickey to fall. He gasped as he was greeted by another monster; this time humaniod with a red cape, looking like a moving tree, long beard and a turban, and a long robe with sharp teeth._

 _"Who trespasses in my garden? My masterpiece?" The figure demanded angrily as he gestured at everything in the garden._

 _Mickey shivered. He was terrified, as he stuttered, "I-I-I-I...!" unable to form a sentence._

 _He then screamed as he was grasped by the large vine-like hands as the figure hissed, "You fool! You may have something to sever every limb, but my power will always bloom!"_

 _"I'm-I'm really sorry!" Mickey cried out in fear, strugging to free himself. "I didn't mean to come here! I-I was trying to escape from a giant bat-like monster!"_

 _"No one shall defile the art of Arbutus and live!" The figure growled, tightening his grasp in Mickey who cried out as he could feel his limbs and bones being slowly crushed._

 _By then, Mickey was starting to cry, which was embarrassing but at the moment, it didn't matter. "P-Please lemme go!" He pleaded, "It wasn't me trying to hurt this place! I swear!"_

 _"So you are saying this demon you escaped from is the cause for this?"_

 _"It's the truth!" Mickey cried out. "I only came here to hide! Why, I would never try to ruin anything from your home, mister!"_

 _The figure, considering Mickey's words, stroked his beard in thought. Now that he really thought about it, all the young mouse really did was play with his harp and just admired the garden. Nothing more. And from what he'd seen earlier, Mickey was really afraid. He then decided to heed Mickey's words, and said, "Hmm...Yes. You seem to actually admire my masterpiece. As long as you haven't plucked my precious work."_

 _When Mickey was released and gently put back down to the ground, he sighed in relief, before saying with a nervous smile, "Well, gee, I've always been taught not to touch things without permission, and taking things from other people is not very nice."_

 _"Hear me!" The figure warned, which made Mickey frightened again. "The darkness will only come because it is awakening...!"_

* * *

When Mickey felt someone poke him in the cheek, he immediately jolted upright, crying out in alarm before looking around to realise it was Mushu who poked him at one of the dining tables in the Cafeteria. Little did Mickey know at the moment, he had fallen asleep and slumped forward onto the table. With him, other than Mushu, were Reno, Lea, and Terra who gazed him with slight concern.

"Huh-what?" Mickey muttered, before asking, "Gosh, what happened?"

"You fell asleep and were out for fifteen minutes." Lea responded casually, though was concerned. "You look like you were havin' a nightmare again."

Mickey couldn't stop the yawn that escaped as he realised that he was pretty tired, but he still managed to reply, "I was...it was that same dream again." before becoming a bit more awake and added, alarmed, "This time it turned into the scariest dream! Huh, that giant monster chased me all the way to a garden castle where another monster nearly killed me!"

He was earned by puzzled and skeptical looks, which made Mickey embarrassed as he added with a shrug, "Not that garden castles are real. And this is only the second time this month I've had it. Last time was almost two weeks ago." thinking back of just before the Maleficent Dragon incident that Mickey first had that horrible nightmare. This time it changed.

"Garden castle?" Reno asked, skeptically. "Seriously, Mick'. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"That's what you and me said about Abomiblesnowpeople until last year when we met Snowy." Lea pointed out, refering to the Shadow Pass adventure. (As shown back in season 1: Life FAR From Normal).

"And talking gorillas and other things we've been through." Terra added with a nod.(Also shown back in season 1: Life FAR From Normal)

A little sheepish for having slightly forgotten those events, Reno shrugged before admitting, "Good point." before noticing the time on the clock behind Mickey and said, "Speakin' of Gardens. Shouldn't ya' be in Nature Class?"

Snapping back to reality, Mickey turned to gaze and realised to his horror that it was already five minutes to 2:00PM. Alarmed, he cried out, "Oh no! I'm gonna late!" and after a quick wave of goodbye to his friends, he immediately raced out of the Cafeteria and through out Radiant Academy to Mr. Lumina's Nature Class room.

"It's really worrying how Mickey's having these nightmares lately. Do you think we should be worried?" Mushu asked, concerned after two minutes of silence while the others made to head over to their classes as well.

"Twice is sort of a coincidence." Terra admitted with thought. "It's not like Mickey to have them."

"Ah, I'm certain he's been watching too many horror movies lately." Reno shrugged, "Anyway, gotta hit to class or else Miss Farron's gonna have my head."

"As long as I don't end up going through CPR again today, I'm happy." Lea muttered, shuddering at the memory of Rai...well, you know back in episode 7 and well, it wasn't too pretty.

Mushu gave the redhead a skeptical look, saying, "At least you didn't get captured in a net by crazy snakes, or before that, getting chased by a giant crazed piranna with a chainsaw!"

* * *

 _Flash-Back: Back in Episode 7._

 _"Piranna?" Mushu asked, helplessly and with an expression that said, '_ Uh-oh. _'_

 _Not even seconds later as the words escaped from the smalll dragon's mouth, as all of the sudden, a giant Piranna bursted out of the water and roared loudly at the trio who nearly flew away, but the bubbles stopped none the less. The next thing the group knew, the freakin' fish pulled out a chainsaw like in the Masscare movie, prepareing to slice them into pieces to have them for lunch!_

 _"AAAAAAHHHH!" Donald, Goofy and Mushu all screamed, then sped away in their boat, until they abandoned the boat all together and practically ran on the water, though not without some casaulties. The Piranna managed to tear off Donald and Goofy's clothes, save for their boxers, and even skinned some of Mushu's scales off, revealing his own boxers, as they quickly made it to shore, and rejoined the rest of their class, which had Mickey, Terra, Zack, Cloud, and their teacher Jecht who all flinched in shock and confusion on what just happened to the three of them who panted and wheezed at the close call._

* * *

"I couldn't sleep right for weeks!" Mushu continued, shuddering. When he didn't get a respond, Mushu quickly realised that the others had already left and now he was on his own in the Cafeteria, and you could hear crickets chirping in the background in the silence of the room.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Mushu leaped off the table and made his way back to the dorms, grumbling in sarcasm, "Yeah, yeah, alright. Leave the dragon behind on his lonesome and ignore his traumatic experience, why don'tcha?"

* * *

Later that day, the students who were in today's Nature Class were told to read up about nature from the Academy's Library, much to their annoyances. None the less, they were also told to form a study group, which is where Mickey, Minnie, Ven, Melody, Selphie, Aerith and Zack were at right now, formed in a circle at one of the Library's tables, soft comfy chairs and cushions. During the homework, however, Mickey felt more exhausted and despite that he'd been lucky that Mr. Lumina was five minutes late, he couldn't concentrate.

"You look worn out, Mick'." Zack spoke up, being the first to notice how tired his friend was.

"Is everything okay?" Minnie asked to her boyfriend, worriedly.

Snapping awake again, Mickey sheepishly replied, "Uh, yeah! Just peachy! Heheh! D-Don't worry!" before going back to one of the books of nature in hand, hoping to not get into anymore trouble.

"Hey guys." Melody spoke up, sounding surprised. "Look what I found in my book." holding the book wide and held it in front of her to show off the pages she discovered to the others. On one of the pages, is a towering garden-like castle in the middle of the desert. While most of the others were astonded and amazed at it, Mickey, once he saw it, had his eyes widened in horror and disbelief.

Oh no. It can't be...!

"Wow! That's amazing!" Ven thought.

"It's beautiful." Aerith thought.

"I'll say." Zack thought, before adding as he gazed at Aerith, "But still not as beautiful as you, Aerith." which made his girlfriend blush at the compliment.

"What kind of beautiful castle is that?" Selphie asked, excitedly.

Melody turned the book back to her and read the context, " _The Garden of Art: Was once the home of the master named Arbutus, the Artist and Master of nature in the deserts near Agrabah. While he loved nature as they were his creations, he loathed those who did not see the life of them, which included humans. One day, he had fallen to his death and his death caused the death of the castle itself. They say that he was reborn when the rose on his chest was replanted. But no one knows anymore than that._ "

As Melody read, Mickey felt himself sweating in fear as memories of his nightmare came back to him. His heart rate increasingly growing faster and faster until he realised he briefly forgot how to breathe that he felt light headed and felt like passing out from shock. Gulping, he muttered dizzly, "I see..." before falling back into his chair which saved him from passing out.

"Hold on. Near Agrabah?" Ven blinked, puzzled. "I didn't know that."

"Maybe Genie might know. He and Iago used to live there a long time ago." Zack suggested.

"Good idea. I'm really curious on what the inside of the castle would've looked like." Melody agreed with a smile, "I bet the inside is just as beautiful as the outside was."

"It's so sad that it died along with Arbutus. The poor thing." Aerith thought with sympathy, and Minnie nodded in sympathized agreement.

"Something awful must've happened." Minnie said, "Someone most awful hurting him and his castle and-"

Mickey politely as calm as he could cuts his girlfriend off, saying, "Yeah, yeah. W-we get the idea." while in truth, he didn't want to hear anymore of it. The fact that his dream had really been half reality scared him and he had trouble hiding that said fear.

"Well, there's really much we can do about this." Zack rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, really...it's all the way in the desert part of the world, right?"

"Guess you're right." Ven nodded in agreement, "Still, can't help but feel sorry for the guy and his garden."

"Yeah, hah...really terrible." Mickey mumbled, though his thoughts were pretty much into his nightmare he had this afternoon and the more he was hearing this, the more it made him very uneasy. It fact, he could've sworn he was starting to feel an anxiety attack coming.

That's when the others noticed how pale Mickey looked, and Ven asked, worriedly, "Mickey? Are you okay?"

Now that he thought of it, Mickey didn't feel well at all. To avoid in revealing his nightmare now that he knew that it wasn't just a coincidence, he put his own book onto the table and stood up, saying, "A-actually, I'm not feelin' too good. Think I'll go and see Dr. Rai for a check up."

"You want us to go with you?" Zack offered.

"No, no. It's fine, really." Mickey replied, "Besides, can't have all of us get behind in our homework. I'll catch up tonight as much as I can." before quickly walking away to avoid anymore conversation only to leave behind his worried friends and girlfriend.

* * *

But Mickey ended up halfway towards his destination as he slumped against the wall while hugging his knees to his chest, on a verge of a panic attack. The Garden castle...and Arbutus. They were real. And if they were real...then it's possible that the dream of the horrible demon was the same as what he learned from Mushu and Iago a while back.

The demon of Bald Mountain.

What was he gonna do? How can he solve this problem when it was considered very crazy?

But before Mickey could continue to try and calm down, he felt something...slithering behind him and for a moment he thought he was hallucinating when he felt the wall...crack open and just vanish. But when he felt the ground shake and he gasped in fright, by the sounds of cracking and looking down to see his fears proved true, Mickey knew that he wasn't hallucinating.

His heart raced in panic. To make things worse, vines slithered from behind him and Mickey jumped a few feet in the air in horror before making a run for it. But he couldn't make it as the ground gave away even as Goofy came from the right of the hallway and he saw what was going on. Goofy tried to reach out to Mickey but was instead caught by one vine that was preventing him from reaching his friend. Another vine reached out from a newly made black hole and grasped Mickey by the waist even as the teenaged mouse grabbed onto the ledge of the floor.

"Mickey!" Goofy cried out.

"Goofy!" Mickey screamed as he was being pulled into the dark carven. Despite trying to hold on, it was too late as he lost his grip and was pulled into the darkness, only able to give out a last scream, "Get _helllllleeeeeeppp_!"

"NOT again!" Goofy screamed in dismay, remembering how he was unable to save Selphie when she was kidnapped by Carpies.

Now Mickey was kidnapped by...unusual vines.

* * *

Mickey was pulled deeper and deeper into the ground below the Academy no one knew of before and all he saw was nothing but dark rocks and a cold cavern. While he tried to pull himself free from the vine that had kidnapped him, when Mickey looked down below, his eyes bulged out in horror as he was being pulled right towards a giant carnivorous plant with zillions of sharp teeth, ready to bite and slice into flesh.

Mickey struggled harder and harder until he came to a desperate measure. He bit hard onto the vine and he could hear an agonized wail that echoed but at least the vine lets him go. In fact, in response to this, it tossed him to the side away from the monster plant and while he screamed as he flew into the air, Mickey came to a landing near other wild flowers and plants, crashing onto the soft lawn of grass.

Panting at such a close call, Mickey pushed himself up, looking around at the new scary looking surroundings. Shaking from terror, he said to himself, "This isn't happening. It's one of those horrible dreams." before smiling weakly, "I'm probably sleeping in the Library."

Just then he heard another rumble, and when Mickey looked to where he managed to escape from the meat-eating plant, his eyes widened in horror as it rose up again. Terrified, he quickly hid behind a rock once he got to a further safe distance, panting and breathing heavily as he watched it sprout out seeds that spread all over the place, even where Mickey was while the mouse covered himself as much as he could. When he realised that he was okay, Mickey became more terrified as the giant seedlings, the size of his entire body, instantly grew out giant pink blooming flowers.

He leaned back against the rock as much as he could while praying that these flowers weren't going to eat him, as the giant carnivorous plant behind him redrew back into the soil.

Too scared to even move, all Mickey could do was ask, "W-What's goin' on?"

"Feeding time, that's what goin' on. Ha-Cha Cha!" A new voice spoke.

"W-What?" Mickey asked, gazing to his right to see a taller mouse about the same height as Goofy, though this guy wore an leaf jumper, gray pants, brown shoes and his ears were smaller than Mickey's.

"Ya ain't bright, are ya, kid?" The mouse, named Mortimer laughed with a smirk, as though he was enjoying this. "So, what do'ya think? Fasinating, isn't it?"

Mickey shook his head, answering, "It was horrible! I gotta get outta here!"

"There ain't a way outta here. The only way out is through the ceiling." Mortimer said slyly, much to Mickey's horror. "Not often it bursts through the roof to the outside world, but I guess it was more hungry than usual."

He felt sick in the stomach. Mickey felt his blood run icy cold.

As though it was a casual day, Mortimer then walked passed Mickey, saying as he walked off to somewhere else, "Enjoy your stay here. You'll have loads of excitement while you're at it, kiddo." leaving the terrified student behind.

Gazing around in fear, Mickey then ran all over the place of the terrifying underground garden world that he nor anyone else knew off before. There must be another way out. What would happen to his friends if they suffered the same fate? He had to do this on his own, because the hope of being rescued was quickly dimming. But the further he went into the darker parts of the underground world, the more Mickey Mouse felt like he had just stumbled into a darker version of Alice's Wonderland.

While the flowers, trees and such were amazing, it was so dark that it also made it terrifying. "This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream." Mickey kept on telling himself, hoping to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

Unfortunately, this was all too real. Mickey noticed a lone fly who zipped passed him, but unfortunately for the fly, as Mickey's eyes followed it, the fly got caught and trapped in a spider's web in a tree branch, doomed to be eaten by a spider, despite it screaming out, "Help me! Help me! Help me!" but it was too late as the spider gobbled up the fly, and Mickey cringed in disgust and pity.

Gulping, Mickey muttered to himself, "I sure hope that doesn't happen to me."

Just then, more vines appeared from the ground surrounding Mickey who froze before trying to run away. However the vines all combined into giant tree like hands and blocked Mickey's escape, entrapping him in it's grasp before it became a vine-like cage, leaving poor Mickey imprisoned. As he grasped at two of the vines, terrified, he gave out a pleading cry, "Let me go!"

The ground then shook once more, causing Mickey to lose his balance as another giant vine appeared. From it's leavy cocoon, it unvealed itself to reveal one of Mickey's horrible nightmares. The same figure he'd seen earlier today.

"A-A-A-Arbutus!?" Mickey shrieked in horror.

Arbutus, the very...whatever he is, gazed down at the terrified mouse, saying, "I'm flattered. You know who I am."

"Y-You were in my nightmare." Mickey quivered.

"I strive to make an impression." Arbutus told him, casually.

The teenaged student slowly got up before grasping the two vines of the cage again, asking in fear, "W-W-What do you want with me? I'm just a student of Radiant Academy!"

"There are more important things to worry about, young one." Arbutus said as he slid down from the cocoon to get closer to Mickey who backed up, while the former continued, "As you have noticed, something very un-natural to both your world and mine has effected this place." as with a wave of his hands, the vines slithered away, releasing Mickey.

"You mean, huh, t-this place wasn't always like this?" Mickey asked, gesturing at their surroundings. "But why did ya kidnap me?" quickly adding, "Not that I want anybody else get kidnapped to this place!"

"Your nightmares of the demon, mouse." Arbutus answered, "I could sense it and it's been effecting my beloved work as I've been here for centuries."

Mickey was now confused, "Wait a minute. I thought you lived near Agrabah."

"So you know about my past." Arbutus chuckled, before admitting, "For safety causes, I was moved here so no other could tresspass my garden. Living underground while gaining new kinds of floushing water, sun and flowers would survive here."

"That doesn't make sense." Mickey pointed out, "Flowers, trees, and even fruit and vegatables all need sunlight and water, but there isn't any sun down here. You'd have better luck up on the surface. Why here underneath Radiant Academy?"

"There used to be a special kind of sun, granted by magic and sorcerers." Arbutus explained, before growing bitter, "But the time, of the great demon is awakening. And a dark one who wishes darkness across all lands, has cursed our land!"

Mickey's heart jumped into his throat, his eyes widened in realization. Could it really be true? "I-it's not the demon from my nightmares, is it?" He asked, hesitatedly.

"The demon of Bald Mountain; Chernabog, the lord of all ghosts and demons. He was sealed centuries ago by a powerful sorcerer. But now someone wishes to awaken him with their power. It's possible that the same sorcerer chose you to see this as a warning. But the only way for you to know is to come here to see for yourself." Arbutus told him, turning around as though he expected that Mickey still didn't understand.

Mickey lowered his head in guilt, fear, saddness, but more importantly, understanding. Sniffling as he tried not to cry, he finally spoke, "Uh, Arbutus...I think I do understand."

This made Arbutus confused as he gazed at the young small mouse, surprised.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the hallway of the Academy, when Goofy had cried out for help, thankfully everyone else who also heard the quakes and had heard Mickey screaming, gathered around the hole in grave worry. Minnie had been crying in Selphie's arms when she heard the devastating news that Mickey had been taken underground.

"I should've gone with him! This is all my fault!" Zack grunted, having trouble screaming out in frustration, blaming himself that Mickey was taken.

"I'm much to blame as you, Zack." Ven sighed in guilt, clutching his fist, disgusted with himself for having not gone with one of his best friends who, like Reddy nearly two weeks ago, was kidnapped.

Iago, eying the darkness of the hole below nervously, then shrugged, and said, "Oh well. He's gone; dead; ancient history. Let's hope he has funeral insurance." only to be shoved onto the floor by a very annoyed Donald.

"Oh shaddup." The white duck told the red parrot.

"An underground cavern, right underneath our Academy." Xehanort grunted, concerned not only for the situation, but also admittedly concerned for Mickey's safety as well. "What is this world coming to?"

"Who knows what is in there, but we cannot wait for the Turks." Eraqus muttered, "Mickey needs to be saved, quickly!"

This was immediately enough to trigger the determination within Ventus, because he clutched his fists harder, before turning to the red carpet who helped him and the others to get here faster, and told his flying friend, "Reddy! Let's go!" and before anyone else could say anything, Ven hopped onto Reddy and the two flew deep into the cavern, despite his friends and the teachers protests.

"Hey! Wait up!" Lea called down to his friend. Immediately, he, Isa, Goofy, Donald, Terra, Mushu and even Zack and Reno were grabbed by Genie who followed down below, with Iago groaning and followed behind. Everyone else rolled their eyes, while Aqua could only gaze worriedly along with the rest of their friends.

* * *

The further the group went down, the more creepier it got. Until finally, ahead of them they could see the same carnivorous plant that nearly ate Mickey with it open once again. Fortunately, Ven and his friends flew over and safely away from it before stopping to gaze around their new surroundings. It immediately sent chills down into their spines as to them, it looked more like something out of their nightmares.

"Too dark." Iago shrugged, scaredly, before beginning to fly back to the entrance as he added, "I think I'll wait outside." only to stop in horror as the plant's vines turn into giant hands and attack him, then attacks the others.

Ven jumped off just in time as Reddy was captured by the vines. The same couldn't be said for the others as while Genie was grasped by the vines, Terra, Lea, Isa, Donald, Goofy, Mushu, Zack and Reno were accidently dropped and screamed as they fell. Fortunately, Reddy managed to free himself and saved the others before they could crash land, and Genie pulled himself free while tying the vines up in 2.5 seconds.

Once everyone got onto the ground, Ven took the lead, saying, "Guys, c'mon."

Mushu climbed onto Ven's shoulder, terrifed out of his mind as he whimpered, "Man, this place is out to get us! How you gonna..."

"Follow my lead." Ven told him, and walked off while inadvertedly caused Mushu to lose his grip and caused the small dragon to scream as he fell onto the ground with a thump.

As the others followed Ven to find Mickey, thankfully while unknowingly on the same trail their friend had taken earlier, Iago whimpered as he hid behind Lea, panicking, "This whole place is worse than that crazy garden castle of doom when Jas' was kidnapped by that whacko guy."

"I'm not sure what you fellers are talkin' about, but I don't think I wanna know." Goofy shuddered, with Donald nodding in agreement as the two sticked close.

"That reminds me." Zack said as he turned to Genie and Iago, asking, "Before Mickey left to see Dr. Rai, Melody discovered a book that mentioned about a garden castle, run by someone named Arbutus. Do you guys know anything about that?"

This caused Mushu, Reno, Lea and Terra to stop in their tracks as they turned to gaze at Zack, and then Iago and Genie in shock as they exclaimed, "What!?" while Donald and Goofy also stopped, more confused than anything else.

"What!? That nightmare garden is even written?" Iago asked in disbelief, before blinking blankly, "Geez, who was the bozo that wrote that up?" which also caused Ven to stop and turn back to them when he heard this.

"Wait a minute, you mean you know about this?" Reno asked, suspiciously.

Genie nodded, "Of course the parrot and I do. Arbutus was one of the enemies Al' had to fight 1,000 years ago. Even though he wasn't really much of a villian."

"Yeah, just a total whacko who takes plants he makes and even plants he doesn't make too seriously like they're his babies." Iago added, "20 years before Al', Jas and even I were born, the Sultan stupidedly took one of the flowers from that guy and in order to stay alive, made a deal that in 20 years time, Mr. Plant man would take his most precious treasure who happened to be his daughter Jas' herself." which shocked the rest of the group, not to mention angered them a little.

"Wait, he-his own family?" Zack asked, almost speechless. To think that the Sultan would do such a thing to spare his own life. It angered him to hear that.

"But the good news is, the said Sultan led us to the same place to rescue the Princess, even if we later learned that his palace meant as much to him as familes mean to each other." Genie continued quickly, "Even if Al' stopped him before knowing it, we replanted him when he was nothing more than a little rose."

Ven blinked, before muttering, "So it was you guys who did that, to save Jasmine."

"And now he was underneath here and kidnapped Mickey." Reno growled.

"And now he was underneath here(for whatever reason) and kidnapped Mickey." Iago rolled his eyes, before grumbling, "I would've thought that was obvious by now."

"Damn!" Reno hissed, "And here's me thinking the friggin' garden castle was all in Mickey's head when he told us about it in his nightmare."

"Wait, what?" Ven asked, shocked once again.

"Mickey fell asleep during lunch, and when he woke up, he told us that he had a nightmare of that demon again, and this time, the garden castle was added to it." Terra explained the short version of what he, Reno, Mushu and Lea had heard earlier, as the other three nodded.

"Which means something un-natural has happened that is causing our beloved Mickey to have nightmares about reality!" Genie shuddered and literally froze in ice in fear and shock.

"What? Mickey seeing the future?" Donald asked, skeptically, "Gimme a break, this is ridiculous!"

Goofy quickly become more worried as he exclaimed, "We gotta help Mickey and fast!"

"Yeah! C'mon!" Ven agreed, taking the lead once more.

Despite the nervousness the group was feeling, Ven and the others kept going in hopes of finding and rescuing Mickey and then return home. Little did they know was that vines that were not Arbutus's began to follow them. On the other hand, Genie sensed the movement, but when he turned around, the vines dropped as if lifeless. This made him shuddered, before turning again.

"Sure is a creepy place." Goofy mumbled scaredly, rubbing his hands together in fear.

"You're telling me." Donald agreed, also rubbing his hands together in fear.

Even Lea and Reno were both nervous as the latter said, "Yeah, no kiddin'."

"Oooh! This place is really creepy." Genie mumbled to himself, only to sense movement again as the vines once again moved and this time when he turned, he gasped in fear as they approached him, muttering, "Or should I say creeping?"

He made to scream, but the vines quickly tied him up and covered his mouth, pulling him back comically and was heard too late as Ven and rest of the group turned and were horrified to see what just happened. "Genie!" Ven cried out.

Unfortunately, more vines appeared and this time grabbed Ven, pulling him away as well and soon had him in the middle, tightening their grip around him and slowly making his way up to his neck, much to the rest of his friends' horror.

"Ven!" Terra, Zack, Lea, Reno, Donald and Goofy screamed, before they and Reddy raced over to try and save him as quickly as possible.

Iago then hovered behind Mushu and waved his wings at the dragon in a 'shoo' gesture, saying, "By all means, play through." much to the latter's annoyance before Mushu slumped over to help save Ven as well.

As Ven was slowly being strangled and suffocated, Terra, Zack, Lea, Reno, Donald, Goofy, Reddy and Mushu all pulled at the vines as hard as they could to try and free him, but not even Terra's SOLDIER training or Lea and Reno's Turk training helped in this matter and time was running out for their blond-haired friend. Mushu had made to put the thing on fire, but thought against it as it would also burn Ven as well and he didn't want that to happen. Genie was now missing, and Iago just sat perched on a tree trunk watching, unaware that another vine made to grab him as well.

"Ya got 'em on the run now!" Iago cheered, only to cry out in alarm as the vine grasped him and pulled him away, leaving behind a few feathers from his body.

Just when all seemed lost, all of the sudden, the vines loosened and were taken away, releasing both Ven and Iago(who dropped comically to the ground) and when everyone looked to see how it happened, they were surprised that Genie had freed himself as well, and had enlarged himself with a red and white napkin wrapped around his neck. As for the vines, well, they were wrapped around a giant fork like either spagetti or noodles. Either one you can imagine.

"Bonappetito!" Genie shrugged, before shoving the vines right into his mouth and ate them, sucking his fingers before shrugging again, saying in false italian accent, "Not quite a-like mama's, but it'll do."

"Thanks, Genie." Ven smiled as he and the rest of the group climbed onboard Reddy and flew the rest of the way to find Mickey.

Genie belched a little, before replying to his friend, "My pleasure." and quickly followed the group.

Though they were unaware of what they were about to discover.

* * *

 _Back with Mickey and Arbutus..._

"Do you, truly understand this? Or are you just playing with me?" Arbutus asked to Mickey who shook his head to deny the latter question.

"Gosh, with everything else that's happened since last year, what happened half of this year, and all of the awful things that are gettin' more serious, if you're real, then that means Chernabog is real too." Mickey answered, before shuddering, still afraid as he added, "But the thing is, I'm so scared of that awful monster. How can we stop something that huge on Bald Mountain?"

"The nightmares really frighten you." Arbutus realised, then said, in surprise at himself, "But then, you have encountered other dangers. After all, you do bear courage. There is a way to stop Chernabog. It requires special items."

"Items? What kind of items?" Mickey asked.

However, before Arbutus could answer, Ven's voice suddenly called out close by, "Mickey!" which caused both Mickey and Arbutus to gasp in shock as they turned to see Mickey's friends arrive on Reddy.

As the group jumped, while Ven, Terra, Zack, Reno and Lea landed safely onto the ground and instantly stood surronding the stunned and slightly relieved but shocked Mickey Mouse, Mushu crashed into a tree with a splat face first, Goofy jumped as he hollared, "Geronimo!" and Donald was accidently thrown off and panicked as he fell to the ground.

Goofy ended up a clumsy crash landing, and as he stood up, half-dizzy, he called out to Mickey, "Hold on, Mickey! I'll save-YAHOO!" he cried out when Donald landed right on top of him, sending the two back onto the ground.

"Oh yeah, real smooth landing, guys." Lea said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes in annoyance at what just happened.

Reno shook his head before turning to glare at Arbutus who glared at him and the others in return, as the redhead said with a frown, "Alright, you. Care to explain why you kidnapped our friend into this nightmare of a place, or do we have to do this the hard way?"

"Reno!" Mickey cried out cautionly.

"Don't worry, Mickey!" Ven told his friend, not understanding either. "We'll stop this guy if we have to do it leaf by leaf!" with Zack and Terra both nodding in firm agreement.

Arbutus was no impressed, as he took a few paces back, preparing to fight if he had to, warning the other students of Radiant Academy, "You will try, young ones! You will try!"

"So I take we're gonna do this the hard way then?" Reno sighed, grumbling, "Why can't these things ever end the easy way?"

"Uh, guys?" Mickey spoke up, trying to get between his friends and Arbutus, "This isn't what it looks like!"

Unfortunately, neither of them listened as more vines appeared, this time at Arbutus's command, and Ven and the rest of the group had to leap out of the way to avoid the vines in a battle, as Genie had produced weapons to help cut the vines away in this situation, though Reno was provided with his very own EMR that he had been meaning to try out for ages. Donald and Goofy tried to help but were comically tossed away and accidently crashed on top of Mushu who had just recovered, and Iago who had landed next to him at the wrong time. Genie himself turned into a gopher and digged his way to Arbutus, before biting his right foot.

Arbutus cried out in pain at this, before feeling pain on his left shoulder this time as Genie had turned into a woodpecker and was pecking the said shoulder. He then grabbed and then tossed away, sending flying out of control. Ven slashed one large vine in half, Terra sky-upper cut another, Zack slash another to the side, Lea preformed a skilled double blade slice while twirling them around in his hands, and Reno whacked another before kicking and punch two more with his martial arts skills.

Finally, Mickey, who had been standing helplessly to the side, had enough and took a deep breath before screaming out at the top of his lungs to get everyone to stop fighting, "STOP!"

This worked as everyone who heard him, even Arbutus, froze and turned to him, shocked. Except for Genie who landed hard next to Mickey beak first, before pulling himself out of the ground with difficulty and unstuck, and Donald, and Goofy who both stood up, and Iago and Mushu who were both flattened and the two coughed for almost being flattened like pancakes.

"Nobody's an enemy here!" Mickey cried out, almost angrily at the results, while Genie turned back into his real form.

"What?" Ven, Terra, and Zack blinked, shocked.

"Mick'?" Lea stuttered.

"What the hell, man?" Reno asked, unable to believe what Mickey was saying.

Mickey panted a little for having yelled out so hard, before explaining to his friends, "Look, the only reason why Arbutus took me here is because something awful is about to happen, and for some reason, I'm the only one who's the first to have seen it in my nightmares, and if he's real, then the demon I first saw in my nightmare almost two weeks ago is real too and is in fact the same monster on Bald Mountain Mushu and Iago both told us on that same day."

"Huh?" Zack muttered, even more confused.

"Is this gonna be a repeat of what Serah Farron went through with the Ukubuut?" Iago asked, skeptically. (See Episode 12 to get a better idea)

"Mickey, what are you talking about?" Ven asked, just as confused while glancing back and forth between his friend and Arbutus who just stood there, observing.

"Okay, so he didn't really take me here, it was a giant carnivore plant that nearly ate me before I managed to escape and, well, I was found by him." Mickey answered, "Anyway, he told me that the reason for the monster waking up soon is because a bad guy wants him to wake up and doom all of us just as the same bad guy hurt this underground place Arbutus and his garden had been living in since what happened in Agrabah."

"Wait, wait, wait." Reno shook his head, trying to absorb all this into his head, asking in disbelief, "Are you sayin' that the guy who is the same guy that kidnapped a princess kidnapped you only did that is because he wanted to warn you about some calamity that's about hit us and your nightmares are actually predicting the future?"

He then groaned and whined, "Ugh! My brain hurts."

"Wait a minute." Mushu spoke up, gazing at Arbutus, asking, "Are you sayin' that somebody actually managed to break the spell the old Sorcerer casted onto the said mean nasty monster on Bald Mountain and if it breaks free, we're all doomed?" becoming more and more alarmed by the minute.

"They have not broken the spell yet, but they have ruined my garden here." Arbutus answered, also having calmed down as well once he realised what Mickey really intended to do. "And if Chernabog is released, there's only two ways to defeat him once and for all."

"Chernabog?" Ven asked.

"I think that's the name of the giant demon, man." Lea knowlaged to his friend.

"If there's another Jafar Jr doing all this, I'm outta here!" Iago said stubbornly, only to earn annoyed glares from everyone else, causing him to shrug in annoyance himself, "What? Oh, so it's my fault that the world's going more and more nuts!" in strong sarcasm.

"So, even if you're telling the truth, how can we stop Chernabog?" Terra questioned.

"Well, Arbutus said that we need to find special items, but he hasn't told me what they are yet." Mickey answered this time, "He was gonna, but well, you fellas sorta arrived."

Realising what Mickey meant, now Ven, Genie, Mushu, Terra, Zack, Lea, Reno, Donald and Goofy all felt sheepish before sharing embarrassed looks while Ven rubbed the back of his head, muttering, "Oh. Sorry." before turning to Arbutus and asked, "So, what kind of items to we need?"

Thankful for no interruptions this time, Arbutus explained, "The artifical Golden Paiush, the Crystal Triden, and the Glowing Stone. With these three items, it will create a powerful weapon that will once again seal Chenabog for eternity in case the sorcerer fails this time."

"The sorcerer? You mean, the sorcerer who locked up the monster the last time? He's still alive?" Lea asked, shocked.

"Sorcerers do tend to give themselves expanded lifespans through sleep or can be reborn with memories." Arbutus answered.

"What about this place? Is there anything we can do to turn it back to normal?" Mickey asked, while gazing at the scary astmosphere once more.

The lord of the garden shook his head, sadly this time, "The only way to return this to it's glory is for the one who is causing all this to be defeated, or at least Chernabog to be sealed away if he does awaken once more."

"So we're gonna find these items just in case the giant demon does wake up from his imprisoned nap?" Reno asked.

"Gawrsh, that's a scary thought. Do ya think we can do all this ourselves?" Goofy asked, worriedly.

Ven, feeling determination rise inside him, said to his friends, "No, not just us. We have our friends and others to help out in this. The rest of our friends, Radiant Academy, even ShinRa can help. We're not alone in this, guys. If we do this together, I believe we have a chance in this."

"Hey, Ven's right." Lea agreed, realising what his friend meant. "It make take some convincing, but with everyone else helpin' out, we got a decent shot at this."

"Yeah!" Donald said, excitedly.

Everyone else realised that Ven and Lea were right, and nodded in agreement as well, and even Arbutus nodded in agreement.

"You may return home now, young ones. But be warned, as there are more dangers ahead of you that may stop you." Arbutus cautioned.

"Nah, we're used to that sort of thing by now, anyway." Reno shrugged with a slight smirk.

"Does this mean I have to go through saving the world thing all over again like I did with Al'?" Iago moaned, only to be knocked on the head by Mushu.

"We'll do our best." Ven promised.

Mickey shared an emotional smile with Arbutus, saying, "Gosh, Arbutus, we've never would've learned all this, and I've never would've figured out my nightmares without ya'."

The said artist nodded in acknowlagement.

With that, Genie easily teleported everyone in the group save for Arbutus back into the surface of the Academy where they were reunited with their relieved friends, teachers and headmasters before going into explaination with them and even the Turks and SOLDIER into what was going on, provided with Genie's help. Once everyone in Radiant Academy and their allies in ShinRa realised the situation, it was put into motion to find the sacred items while investigating on who would be the one who release Chernabog and hope to stop them from doing so.

All of them unaware that the one who was causing all this was more dangerous than Ven and all of his friends and allies could have ever imagined. Thus began multiple quests and many more dangerous adventures yet to come, with some old villians that would stand in their way in the future.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Thus begins the great big challenge that lies ahead of our heroes of Radiant Academy. What the next adventure will bring, we'll just wait and see. See you soon!**


	18. Episode 18: Shark of the Day

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: We're getting closer and closer to the end of season 2 of "Life" series. I may consider doing season 3, but maybe not. It depends on how I feel, especially with other stories that still need to be completed.**

 **Anyway, let's continue for the next adventure.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 18: Shark of the Day.

In the Diamond Pacific near the Emerald Continant where held not only Wutai but also other places as well, including the Land of Promise, a cargo ship sailed through the rough waves despite it's size which would a little bit bigger than a small sails boat. But not even it's metal shield can protect it much from the possibilty of sinking. A storm was brewing in the near darkest of nights, and this happened once and while near the original continants of the deserts. In the captain's pilot quarters of the ship, the said captain and a few of the crew were ready to make sail towards the East Continant to deliver the cargo.

All of the sudden, the alarm buzzed and lights flashed red, and the radar detected something coming their way. The ship itself then jerked almost violently to the right, causing the crew to nearly lose their balance. In the cargo hold, was something with a sheet drapped over it. But the window of the said cargo was smashed open by a pink tentacle, ripping off the sheet and revealing what was underneath: A golden statue.

To make things worse, a large wave crashed into the side of the ship to the left, causing the statue to slide towards the wall and then with the tentacles ripping open the side, the said artifact crashed through and fell overboard, falling into the ocean where it floated down towards the bottom of the ocean while the ship was forced to make emergancy flee to the nearest port for repairs, unaware at the moment that they had lost the statue which was also one of the three keys to protect the world.

Underwater, as the ship sailed away, the tentacles belonged to Armand, the Octopus whom caused problems along with his mistress some months ago. The Octopus himself, glaring heatedly at the ship, made to attack again when Selene the nasty mermaid held him to stop, as she playfully scolded, "Armand! No! Silly Armand. Silly violent Armand."

This made Armand stop, while Selene swam over to the statue, almost gleefully as she explained, "The ship must go back to Radiant City. We have what we want." placing a hand onto the statue as she continued, "The famous, what-it's-name, so precious to the land-dwellers of Radiant City. The ShinRa President will have to send someone to retrieve it. Someone very special." she grinned.

She knew exactly who would be coming for the statue, and she was using this as her bait to get the man whom she wanted since her encounter with a blue-haired human girl months ago.

That man was Terra.

* * *

 _A few days later..._

When word reached out that one of their main keys was lost in the ocean just when it was found by ShinRa's military, it was agreed to send a lesser party and more of a back-up, under permission of the Headmasters of Radiant Academy, along with a supervisor to go and reclaim it. Especially since none of them knew how much time they had left before Chernabog would re-awaken. Which was why on a slightly smaller speed boat that would fit the luxury of 20 people was sailing towards the destination.

The boat itself was crewed by Tseng of the Turks who was put in charge into the special mission. With him were Terra, Ven, Lea, Isa, Reno, Cloud, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Mushu, Iago, Genie and Melody-who was asked to come along due to her expertise of being half-mermaid-who were all doing something a bit different while they sailed to get what they were looking for; The Golden Paiush.

"Uh, just to be clear, what is the Golden Paiush anyway?" Mushu asked as he climbed up the railing near where Terra was, "And why would it be underwater in the middle of nowhere?"

"According to history, it's a statue that's been missing for generations. It was recovered in Agrabah 1,000 years ago. But 400 years ago, it was stolen and then re-lost." Terra explained, remembering this in history class. "It was re-found, but it went over-board on it's voyage to Radiant City. We have to find it before we can find the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone."

"I heard Paiush was Agrabah's wisest philosopher." Cloud spoke up from the front of the ship, as he and the others had over-heard the conversation.

Iago, groaning for have been dragged into yet another situation he didn't want to attend, grumbled, "Wisdom is vastly overrated. Me, I work on gut instinct."

"Wisdom ain't overrated." Reno pointed out, "Okay, so it's boring once and awhile, but it can also save your life once and while." before commenting with a teasing smirk, "Besides, I think you'd oughta try working on that gut of yours." which drew laughter from Mushu, Ven, Melody, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and especially Lea who nearly bursted into hysterical laughter.

"Great, I'm a stowaway on the ship of fools." Iago rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Why did he always end up being stuck in adventures like this or similiar? Wasn't the one with Arbutus a week ago enough?

"This is the spot." Tseng spoke up from the steering wheel as the radar on their vessel alerted them of their location. It got everyone else's attention as they all immediately heard the Turk before most of them glanced over the railing of their boat. They also noticed the deserted island which looked a bit more like one of those jungle islands seen in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

"Hey, Mel'. Do you think you can see where the statue might be?" Ven asked to his friend who nodded.

The eleven year old girl playfully saluted, "Leave it to me, Ven."

"Great! One special item down, two go to!" Mickey declared, excitedly. He had been worried that the search for the three special items needed to defeat Chernabog could take weeks or even months and who knew when the said giant demon would reawaken. It's a huge relief that they found one of them at least.

"Slow down, Mick'." Lea laughed, "We still have to fish out the damn thing."

"I don't think fishing it out will be easy." Terra shook his head.

* * *

Little did the group know, underwater, they could be seen by Selene who immediately recongised the group, and spotted Terra, the handsome man whom already had his heart won by Aqua. But Selene was determined to make him all hers, and she knew how to do so.

Delighted that her prize was right above her-literally-she turned to Armand with a command, jerking a thumb to the boat above them on the surface, "I don't care what you do to the others, but Terra is mine."

Hiding behind a rock near them unknowingly to the duo, was a red Jamacian crab who was nervous given the orders from the king of the sea, as he muttered to himself in a bit of an accent, "Oh man. That Selene is going to cause more trouble."

He then mimicked what King Tytant told him a few weeks earlier, " _'Sebastion, you investigate Selene's latest scheme'_ , he said."

Sebastion the Crab then looked up to see Selene and Armand swimming up to prepare their attack, but that's not what else got his attention. Aside from humans who had come looking for...whatever the statue was, was a familiar black-haired eleven year old girl who was preparing to dive into the ocean to investiate.

He immediately recongised her. "Melody!" He cried out in relief, only to remember that she couldn't hear him at the moment. Despite the mutural agreement that Melody can stay in Radiant City as long as she wants and visit the ocean from time to time, given King Tytant's permission, Sebastion still had his own suspicions.

Either way, he was going to have a word with her...if she and her friends can survive Selene's attack.

* * *

Back on the surface, Melody pulled out her locket and placed it around her neck to prepare her transformation into her mermaid form, when Iago was being chased by an annoyed Donald who yelled out, "Hey, gimme back my potato chips!"

"Do ya' mind sharing? I'm starving here!" Iago yelled in return as he ran(or flew) away from the teenaged white duck, with a packet of Ajax plain potato chips in his talons.

Just then the winds started to pick up and the waves began to get very rough, causing almost everyone to lose their balance while Tseng grunted as he struggled against the strength of the waves and winds combined. Not to mention the rudder of the boat was creaking underwater and the radar beeping a warning as two bleeps blinked in and out that they had company.

"All right, who gave Mr. Wutai Guy a license to drive this thing?" Iago demanded after he crashed onto the deck.

"Ch-check the engine!" Tseng ordered while he struggled.

"Got it!" Reno immediately was the first to answer and made to head below deck, only for him and the others to be hit by a wave which nearly washed them overboard. But now it made them soaking wet. It even got into the steering room, but Tseng managed to hold into the wheel with struggle.

Lea, who had managed to stop himself from falling overboard, was the first to notice something coming towards them from underwater, and called out to his cousin, his friends and his future superior, "Uh, guys? Somethin' big's coming!"

"How big?" Goofy asked, worriedly, only to scream when a large tentacle slithered it's way towards him. "WHOA-OH!" he panicked while flinching away.

To the group's shock, Armand pulled himself out of the water and onto the deck and despite the others attempting to stop him, the Octopus crashed into the glass of the captain's little deck, slamming Tseng away as the Wutaiian Turk hit the side of the railing hard while was prevented from falling overboard by Ven, Isa, Mickey, Mushu and Melody who pulled him back, and Armand then ripped the steering wheel, tossing it overboard.

"Hey! Why I oughta...! WAAAKK!" Donald screamed as Armand grabbed him and tossed him over to Terra, Goofy, Lea, Cloud, and Reno who were stuck in a pile.

Genie, trying to help while also being knocked over several times in Armand's attack, magically turned himself into a fisherman with a harpoon, while breaking the fourth wall, saying, "There'll be calamari on the table tonight, people!"

Unfortunately, he was grabbed by Armand who spun him around and around while tossing the harpoon at Iago who cried out and ducked just in time, but the harpoon caught his tail-feathers onto the mast, leaving him hanging stuck upside down. The parrot crossed his arms/wings as he dryly questioned, "Do genies drown, I wonder?"

Terra quickly got up, and made to pounce onto Armand in an surprise attack when he and everyone else heard a too cheery and un-wanted voice call out to him, "Hi, honey!" causing him to look to his right, as Selene appeared while using her magic to use a crest of a wave to lift her to their level.

"Selene!" Melody grunted, angrily as she immediately recongised the evil mermaid. "I should've known!"

Why did Selene had to appear _now_ , of all times when they already had a possible doomsday to worry about? Melody hasn't heard anything much since the last encounter with Selene months ago, considering how Genie cannon-ball shot her from the shores of Destiny Town and Costa Del Sol.

Selene ignored Melody's accused words and instead pulled out what appeared to be a starfish, before tossing it to Terra who stumbled back in fright. However, the starfish attatched itself to his chest which somehow seeped through his shirt. When he attempted to pull it out, it suddenly glowed and he immediately shut his eyes, hissing in pain as he felt the painful burning sensation. The starfish then vanished from his chest and reappeared in Selene's hands while the said mermaid laughed evilly and then dove back into the ocean.

"Terra!" Ven cried out as he rushed over to see if his friend was alright.

"I-I'm fine." Terra replied after a moment, as the burns calmed down, but it did leave a star mark on his chest and even on his shirt.

"AH!" Reno cried out as he, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Melody, Goofy and Genie were grabbed by Armand's tentacles and held them up in the air, squeezing them tight, causing the olderish redhead to grunt, "Hey, put us down, you overgrown squid!"

Unexpectedly, Sebastion, who had managed to climb onboard(with real difficulty considering how it was rough), reached over and seeing how Melody and her friends were in danger, decided to help out and immediately pinched Armand on the back with his pinchers with all of his might which instantly caused Armand to comically widen his eyes as he cried out in the agonizing sting and also to release his captives who all collasped onto the deck once again. This allowed Cloud, Ven, and even Tseng to use their trained fighting skills to punch Armand in the face and then Genie(recovering slightly) used his magic to pull out a large mallet and whacked the octopus back into the water. Though he also accidently whacked Sebastion into the air as the Crab screamed at the unexpected turn of events, landing somewhere on the shores of the island.

"Head for the shores, now!" Tseng commanded.

Genie immediately went to the back of the boat and turned onto a power-jet, with his tail spinning around and around in a high-speed that made the boat go so fast that everyone else had to hang on for dear life until they eventually reached the shores, thankfully without crashing as Genie slowed down. Everyone else all sighed in relief at the close call.

"For what it's worth," Isa began in annoyance, as he slumped onto the railing. "I think this was one of the major warnings Arbutus told us about if we wanted to find the three items."

"Yeah, well, how're we supposed to know that Selene would just be here?" Lea sighed as leaped off the boat and onto the sand on the shores of the island's beach. He was followed by his cousin, friends and future superior who was starting to feel the effects of being whacked come back to him.

Mickey noticed the discomfort of the Turk and asked worriedly, "Are you okay, sir?"

"I'm alright." Tseng replied, hiding the pain. He was good at that, and what he just experienced seemed like a side walk to the park, admitting, "This is nothing compared to what I've experienced in my earlier years."

"Great." Cloud groaned as he was the first to see the damage of their boat, "We were supposed to rescue the Golden Paiush. Now we're the ones who need rescuing." which caught the attention of the rest of the group and they couldn't help but groan as well.

Genie on the other hand, scoffed, "Us? Need rescuing? Nah!" before transforming himself into a castaway with a long beard that reached literally to the ground, shrugging, "A shave, maybe."

He then used his magic to magically use the wreck of their ship along with a giant sea shell from the ocean and attatched all of them together into a beach house, before teleporting himself to sit in front of it, writing a journal like in this suvivor movies, " _ **Lost Island: A Journal. Day One. With the limited raw materials the island has to offer, I built an oceanfront solar-powered condo.**_ "

Hearing this made Reno burst out laughing to the point of having trouble breathing, as he breathed out once he managed to catch his breath, "Seriously, man! That's the lamest start to our own survival movie I've ever heard."

"Okay, look. I know we all want to go home, but we need to get the Golden Paiush." Terra reminded his friends while Tseng sighed, though the Wutaiian was thankful for Terra's assistance as the younger man continued, "And since that means getting by Selene, we might be here for a while."

"But how are we going to survive!?" Mushu cried out, hysterically. "For all we know, we could easily be on the dinner menu for cannibals here!" pointing at the densed jungle on the island they were currently stuck on.

"You had him watch Dead Man's Chest, didn't you?" Isa asked Lea with a supicious expression.

The redhead grinned sheepishly as he shrugged, admitting, "It's not like that part of the movie was real. Besides, Mushu watched The Curse of the Black Pearl last month, so I told him about the other two movies. And watching Jack Sparrow scream and run away from those cannibals is one of my favorite scenes."

"Well, Genie could always make lunch." Ven suggested while ignoring what both Lea and Isa had said.

"No problemo!" Genie, who heard this, saluted as he snapped his fingers which instantly brought up a table of fruit and a barbaque grill with hamburger meat instead of fish(for Melody's sake). Lea immediately digged in and grabbed hold of an apple, taking a bite.

"Thanks. I'm starvin'." Lea thanked after swallowing his food, and chuckled when Donald raced over and munched away happily, which Tseng politely ignored the latter teenager's lack of manners.

"So, further orders, boss?" Reno quired to Tseng while taking a pear that was also on the table. He was hungry too, and he suspected all of them were, but Reno had come to believe that Tseng was prone to hide even his hunger as well. Sometimes the man was too absorbed into his job. Once a workaholic, always a workaholic.

Tseng, thankful for once for Reno's interruption, nodded and told the group, "As much as I'd go to retrieve the statue myself with the assistance of Melody, I'm afraid that the octopus left me a bit unstable. As much as I hate to admit it." he then turned his gaze to Ven, Terra, Mickey, Goofy and Mushu, giving out his first order, "So, I would like to request the five of you to take my place, in case something else happens."

"No problem, sir." Ven nodded in agreement.

"Right." Terra added.

"Yes, sir!" Mushu, Mickey and Goofy both saluted smartly.

"As for the rest of us, we'll keep an eye out for any signs of danger while we're here." Tseng continued as he gazed at the rest of the group, except for Melody, "None of us know what else is here."

Iago, as usual, had to butt in as he groaned while hovering next to Genie, Isa, and Lea, "If I were in charge we wouldn't be shipwrecked to begin with!"

"But you're not, so live with it." Isa pointed out, flat out.

Lea smirked at Iago's pouted look, "Besides, your idea of leadership is just lazin' around in a comfy recliner chair with a TV and nothing but zillions of bowls of fruit. Even if Tseng wasn't here, the next best leader would be either Ven, Ter', Mick', Mushu, or Genie."

"He has a point." Genie said in agreement, "10,000 years of flawless service. Now, here's how I see the chain of command." before turning himself into an army general, shouting in authority, "ATTENTION!" which caused Iago to be blown away by that exclaim like a gust of wind.

"You had that comin'." Reno smirked at the fallen bird who was now currently stuck in the sand head first with half of his lower body sticking out. The redhead shook his head before taking pity and yanked Iago out with ease while the said parrot coughed up the slimy and icky wet sand that was more like mud.

"C'mon, fellas. We've got a statue to save." Mickey declared as he took the lead to an rock small ocean cliff, with Ven, Melody, Mushu, Goofy and Terra following just one second behind.

Though all of them were unaware that Sebastion had crashed face-first into a rock nearby, and was comically flat onto it, before he reshaped himself and with a startled cry, collasped onto the sand. Now the red crab was quite annoyed as he said to himself, "That Selene is going into the dungeon when I tell the King about this."

* * *

When Ven and his group reached the small cliff, it was decided that Terra and Melody would go underwater to locate that statue and with any hopeful luck, maybe even the Crystal Trident. While Melody had already turned into her mermaid form, Terra had a rope tied around his waist and was alread floating in the water while the others would stay on the surface in case something happened, and in case there's trouble, Terra will pull the rope and Ven and Mickey both promised to go after them while Goofy and Mushu would get help.

"So, ready?" Terra asked Melody who nodded.

"Yep. Let's go!" Melody agreed, diving underwater with ease. Terra took a deep breath and did the same, holding in his air as much as possible, while Melody, being a mermaid, didn't have trouble at all since she could breath underwater.

Melody easily took the lead, but she did either slow down or stop to see if Terra would catch up, and also looking out for any potential dangers like Selene, Armand, or even other dangerous sea life like sharks or killer whales(though I don't think Killer Whales would be anywhere near this area). Fortunately, the two didn't have to look far as she saw what they were looking for.

"There it is!" Melody called out to Terra, pointing at the statue that stood on the ocean floor, waiting to be retrieved.

Terra nodded to her, before he and Melody swam over to the statue and as he untied himself, he and his friend both began tying up the statue to get ready to take it back with them. Between the two, it seemed like an easy task if it weren't for the fact that a tentacle tapped their shoulders.

"Sorry, but we're busy." Melody said absentmindlessly, but then she and Terra both froze and quickly turned around to see Armand right behind them.

Immediately the Octopus grabbed hold of the two with two of his tentacles before using another to pull the robe, which up on the surface alerted Ven, Mickey, Goofy and Mushu who all panicked when they saw that their friends in the water were in trouble.

"Hurry, go get help!" Mickey told two of his friends who nodded with a salute before Mushu and Goofy immediately raced to get help from the rest of the group.

"Let's go!" Ven declared, taking a deep breath and immediately dove into the ocean with Mickey following in pursuit. The two teens swam as fast as they could and immediately saw Melody and Terra struggling to free themselves. The two looked for something to use to distract Armand before Mickey grabbed hold of a coral shell and tossed it which hit the Octopus on the back of the head.

When Armand turned to see what hit him, Ven immediately kicked him in the face which caused the Octopus to let go of his captives who then, with Melody's swimming skills, tied him with the rope before all four of them immediately swum to the surface, unaware that Selene had witnessed this and instead of being angered for missing out, she smiled sinisterly. Things were going according to plan. Now it was only a matter of time.

In the meantime, Armand spend the next five minutes untangling himself from the rope and sat on a rock with two tentacles cupping his face as he moped for having been beaten again by land-dwellers. He was seriously losing his touch.

Selene saw this and swum over to her minion, saying, "Oh, Armand, quit pouting! You're not losing your touch."

Well that made him feel a little better at least, while she continued, "Terra is feeling mine. Soon he will no longer be an enemy but a creature of the sea. One of my loyal fishies." laughing.

* * *

Back with the others, Genie and Iago were still arguing over the leadership, which was getting on everyone else's nerves.

"You are not not a leader! You are little, you spout one-liners, you are a sidekick!" Genie yelled at Iago who glared at him back.

"Will you two please shut up? It gives me a headache every time you guys argue." Isa groaned while placing a hand to his forehead in exasperation.

"I'll say. I'm sick and tired of their useless arguing." Cloud groaned.

"This is exasperating." Donald shook his head in dismay, and the others nodded in agreement.

Before anyone else could say anything however, immediately Goofy and Mushu came rushing over before skidding to a stop, with the forming pointing frantically toward where Terra, Melody, Ven and Mickey had dive him, saying in a panic, "Hurry! Terra and Melody are in trouble!"

"And Ven and Mickey went to help them!" Mushu added.

That's when Reno was the first to notice something unusually odd, muttering, "What're you guys talkin' about? They're over there." pointing at the opposite direction where Goofy and Mushu had come front.

True to Reno's words, as the others looked to see, they found Melody back in her human form, with Ven and Mickey standing next to here on the cliff-shores of the ocean where Terra was...swimming around in circles and jumping up out of the water a few times like a dolphin?

"Uh...Terra?" Lea blinked, dumbfounded. He knew that Terra was a decent swimmer, but that sort of swimming skills was a whole new level, and the redhead knew that sort of thing was Melody's speciality. Did she teach him that during her first weeks of being a student of Radiant Academy or something?

"Oh, I'm so glad one of our esteemed leaders found time to goof off!" Iago proclaimed in sarcasm.

"Will you shut up?" Cloud grumbled at the red parrot who gave him an annoyed look in return.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Lea asked as he approached the trio who all shrugged. He then asked to Melody, "Did you uh...?"

The half-mermaid shook her head, saying, "No. That kind of skill takes years to learn, not months or weeks. I have no idea why Terra is acting like this. I used to do that all the time before I met you guys."

Mickey frowned, not liking this. "Hmm...something screwy's goin' on here."

"When is somethin' screwy _not_ going on?" Lea rolled his eyes at this comment, while Terra finally came out of the water and was rolling his shoulders after more than mere minutes of his unexpected swimming excercise.

"I'll get the statue next time, guys." Terra told the group once he, Ven, Lea, and Mickey approached everyone else.

"Where'd you learn to swim like that?" Reno asked, curiously.

"I don't know." Terra shrugged, fairely surprised himself as he thought while continuing, "I never knew I could swim so fast. I didn't even come up for air the whole time! Kinda strange, huh?"

"I've never seen you do that before. Normally, Aqua's the one who's a better swimmer." Cloud agreed, and he should know, because she certainly still has the record of beating him in swimming classes years ago.

Donald was about to say something when he noticed something happening to Terra's legs and his eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed, "Terra! Your legs!"

That's when everyone else took notice as Terra looked to see his legs and felt his heart stop for a moment in horrified confusion. His legs were morphing into fins and his hands quickly followed. Everyone else stared in shock and horror, their eyes widening.

"Terra!?" Ven exclaimed, unable to believe to see what was happening to his best friend.

"Uhh...Genie!?" Terra muttered in horror, as all of the sudden, he felt like his air was running out and suddenly started to feel like he was being choked, the air escaping from his lungs as his clothes began to disappear while the star shape on his shirt and chest began to glow, and his ribs were now changing into fish gills.

"Ter', you look a little green around the gills!" Genie proclaimed while Terra began to have trouble breathing.

"Since when did he have gills!?" Mushu exclaimed, only to cut himself short as he, Ven, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Cloud, Genie, Iago, Lea, Isa, Reno, Melody and Tseng all realised at the exact same time on what was going on and how this happened, remembering the star fish from earlier.

Selene.

To make things worse, Terra collasped onto his knees which both of his legs turned into a tail, a dorsal fin grew on his back, his face and teeth becomes elongated like a shark's. His skin becomes darker as well and he growled while Mushu stepped back in fear. The others all felt the urge to do the same, but didn't want to abandon Terra. To make things worse, he began to then crawl towards the ocean again.

"Terra, no!" Ven cried out as he, Lea, and Isa quickly raced and grabbed hold of Terra's new tail to prevent him from going any further, knowing what would happen if he did.

"Genie, do something!" Mickey cried out hysterically.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Genie replied while he was clobbering himself on the side of his head several times.

"We must get him somewhere in water, immediately!" Tseng proclaimed.

"But we can't have him go into the ocean! Selene will get him!" Melody protested.

"Well, we can't just leave him like this in the sand!" Reno protested in return.

Iago hovered over, agreeing, "I'm with Goggle-Head! He's not wet enough...if you know what I mean." while Reno made to ignore this comment about his goggles.

That's when Genie turned into a gardener and had magically crafted a water hose, saying, "We'll get him some water!" only having most of the group groan at this stupidity.

"Will you please be serious? Terra's a fish, not a daisy!" Mushu exclaimed.

Mickey groaned, before whistling out to everyone to get their attention. Once they did, he told everyone urgently, "This isn't the time to be fighting! Terra needs us to help him while keeping him safe from Selene at the same time!"

"Fully noted." Reno mumured, shrugging.

"Terra!" Ven suddenly screamed in horror, and everyone saw why. Terra had passed out, which caused most of them to also scream out in horror while Tseng grunted, horrified.

Immediately, Genie then magically created a giant fish bowl before picking up Terra and dunked him into the water, diving him with him before flapping his hands to get the former young man's gills working which began to move to the movement of the water.

"That's it! Attaboy! Nothing guarantees a speedy recovery like a happy aquarium." Genie sighed in relief, before turning his back on Terra and then began to decorate the fish bowl fish ornaments and plants to reflect the ocean life, unaware that Terra had recovered and was behind him. Ven and the others noticed this and quickly pounded at the tank's glass to get Genie's attention.

"Genie, look out!" Ven cried out.

"Behind ya!" Goofy screamed.

Genie, sensing movement behind him, turned to see that Terra is almost fully shark, even though he still has human arms. "Feeling better, I see." He muttered, only to dodge when Terra, slightly losing his humanity, tried to bite at him. "Now that you have row after row of razor-sharp teeth, regular brushing is a must!" The magical being continued while quickly producing a tooth brush and sticked it in Terra's sharp-teethed mouth to keep him from biting.

Genie then leaped out of the fish bowl and back outside with the others, muttering while panting, "I'm not even going to mention that he needs mouthwash!"

"Besides the fact that you just said that?" Reno weakly joked.

"Hopefully, Terra would be alright for now until we can figure out how to return him to human form." Tseng stated, having trouble himself to believe what was happening.

Cloud crossed his arms, "I think the first thing we should do is figure out how Selene managed to turn Terra into a shark in the first place." making everyone else realise that he was right.

"But what if Selene's just gettin' warmed up?" Lea asked, worriedly.

Genie knocked the fish bowl while saying without worry, "Unbreakable, elemental-proof glass. She won't get to Terra."

Cloud gave him a skeptical look, pointing out, "I think this qualifies as gotten to."

"Yeah, she did score a few points on this one." Isa nodded in agreement.

Everyone glanced at each other, before glancing at Mushu a bit hopefully. Realising why they were looking at him, the small dragon gave them a skeptical look, flatly saying, "Hey, don't look at me. I ain't an expert on elemental sea life."

"Why don't we have Genie reverse Selene's spell?" Goofy suggested.

"Hold it!" Iago proclaimed before Genie could agree to Goofy's suggestion.

"Who died and made you king?" Genie asked, annoyed.

Iago rolled his eyes, saying while gesturing at Terra, "Nobody died, but one of our previous leaders did undergo a slight change in species!"

"Maybe I can call King Tytant and ask him to help get Terra back to normal." Melody suggested while fingering her locket around her neck, "He's good in reversing spells and he knows that I trust you guys."

"HA!" A new voice, one which is familiar to Melody, and when she and everyone else(except for Terra who is swimming around in the fish bowl) turned to see, it was Sebastion who now stood on a rock as he had overheard the conversation and decided that now was the time to speak and have a talk with Melody as he continued, almost angerily, "If you think the King would agree to reverse this sort of thing, I don't think you're realising the situation, young lady!"

"A talking crab?" Mickey asked, surprised. Most of the others were stunned and speechless as well.

"Hey, who're you and who invited you here?" Lea demanded at the crab.

"Sebastion? What are you doing here?" Melody asked, shocked.

"Do you know him, Mel'?" Reno asked, puzzled.

The eleven year old girl nodded, explaining, "This is Sebastion. He's King Tytant's Assistant and Royal Court Composer."

"You guys have music in the ocean too?" Ven asked, finding this amazing.

"Sweet." Lea grinned, before saying, "That doesn't answer my second question, though."

Sebastion, seeing how Melody really did trust the land-dwellers that she'd introduce him to her friends without hesitation, before he replied, "Well, it's a long story, but I've come to investigate Selene's latest scheme under the King's orders. I even helped out a little when her assistant got you all." gesturing at Lea, Reno, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Melody, Goofy and Genie who blinked.

"You're the one who saved us from that squid of hers." Isa realised, before shrugging, "Thanks."

"Sebastion, everyone knows how much trouble Selene causes, like right now for example." Melody pointed out.

"I know that." Sebastion replied.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but uh, I don't suppose you have a salution to turn Terra back to normal, do ya?" Mickey asked politely to the red crab.

The red crab glanced back and forth between the shark-turned Terra and his friends, before shrugging, saying, "Well, I don't see why you can't have your friend here to do that. On the other hand, Selene is unpredictable and who knows what kind of effect another spell would do. On the other hand, her spells are always scary, and I'd rather you friend to be a human than a shark. Always had trouble when it comes to them." shuddering.

"I'll say." Cloud could see why.

Unfortunately, before anyone else could continue to figure this out, all of the sudden water from beneath the ground came spouting up through the sand around Terra's fishbowl, nearly hitting everyone else who had to dodge and jump out of the way to avoid in getting hit.

"It's a Selene attack!" Iago screamed.

"What was your first clue?" Mushu asked, sarcastically.

To make matters worse, before Ven and the others could do anything to stop it, a much later water spout appears directly under the fishbowl, overturning it and pushing Terra out into the sea and too late, the group couldn't do anything as their friend in shark form began swimming way...right into Selene's clutches.

"TERRA! NO!" Ven screamed out, falling to his knees as did Genie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy as they and everyone else slumped in disbelieved defeat.

"Well, fellas...it's safe to say..." Mickey began, in defeat.

"We blew it." Donald grumbled in defeat.

When the group saw Terra resurface with Selene on his back as the evil mermaid waved at them before the duo dove back in, finally Lea snapped and turned to glare at Genie and Iago, yelling, "If you both hadn't been arguin' about the leadership thing, we would've payed more attention to Terra!" as the others, even Sebastion nodded in agreement.

Realising this, Iago turned to his blue friend, declaring, "Lea's right!"

"It doesn't matter who's the leader. Only one thing matters: we've got to save Terra!" Genie agreed with determination.

"Right!" Ven said, also realising. "Terra's our friend, and I'm not gonna sit around and let Selene get away with this!"

* * *

Meanwhile, underwater, Selene, very pleased that her spell worked and that Terra was now hers, sat at her calm-shell chair while she watched her new minion preform underwater acrobatics.

"Bravo!" Selene clapped, before commanding him, "Okay, now do a double-back sommersault barrel-roll spin."

When Terra shook his head in refusal, Selene knew what to do in order to get him to do what she wanted. At the touch of her starfish that hanged around her neck, Terra shut his eyes in pain as his arms turned into fins, now turning him fully into a shark. On top of that, he was forced by the magic of the starfish to preform the said double-back sommersault, much to her delight.

Nearby, Armand, who had been angry earlier about how much Selene desires for Terra more, could only watch on in jealousy. So much so that he attempts to get near them, only for Terra, under Selene's control, to smack Armand right in the face and soon enough the two were about to get into a fight when Selene pulled Terra back while saying in annoyance, "Honestly, Armand! You are constantly getting under-fin! Can't you see Terra and I are busy?" while gazing back at Terra, stroking the side of his body.

Armand couldn't believe what he was hearing. His heart wrenched almost painfully that he could now only turn and swim away, hurt and possibly heartbroken.

The trio were however unaware that, behind a rock nearby, was Sebastion, and Genie who turned into a crab as well(like last time), witnessing the events unfold. The two glanced at each other with a nod, before swimming back to the surface as silently as possible without Selene sensing or seeing what was going on.

When the duo made it back to shore and Genie returned to normal while they made sure they were away from the water, they met up with the others as Tseng inquired, "Report."

"Two words: magical starfish. Selene is using one to control Terra." Genie replied.

"Control?" Lea asked, blinking.

"You know, you when force someone to-"

"I know what it means." Lea rolled his eyes while cutting Sebastion off, "I just wanna make it clear on what Genie meant Selene using some starfish to control Terra, for Ifrit's sake."

"No way! Terra wouldn't let anything like that happen!" Donald protested.

Iago nodded in agreement, "I'm with Quacken-Poker, here. Sure, the kid's trainin' to become SOLDIER, but even he wouldn't go as low as taking orders from Selene."

"Actually, it makes sense." Ven thought, causing everyone to gaze at him. "When Selene first attacked, she threw the starfish at Terra which sticked to his chest before it went back to her, but it left the shape of it on his body." remembering it now clearly.

"But what about Armand?" Mickey asked, shrugging.

"Let's just say Armand is out and Ter' is in." Genie answered.

"So the sea-lady dumped her squid for our pal?" Reno asked, crossing his arms in thought, before cringing, "Ouch. Okay, so the squid is a bad guy, but he doesn't deserve that rejection."

That's when Mickey thought of something while Reno said this, and then an invisible light-bulb lit up, and he proclaimed, almost excitedly, "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Cloud asked.

"If Armand is jealous of Terra, we can make a deal with him to help us get Terra back and get the Golden Paiush, and have him go back to Selene as an exchange." Mickey explained.

"That's a great idea, Mickey!" Ven said excitedly, already seeing how the plan can actually work.

"I must admit, even I haven't thought of it." Tseng praised with a small smile.

"Well then, I guess we'd better go find him and ask him to help out so that he can get Selene back and we get Terra back as well as the Golden Paiush." Melody declared.

"Just one question." Sebastion held up a claw, before he asked with a confused shrug, "What's a Golden Paiush and why is it so important?"

Goofy scratched his head before pointing out, "That's two questions."

* * *

When Genie and Melody both found Armand and had him practice punching with boxing gloves and a punching bag and questioned him on how he would like to be Selene's number 1 again, he agreed to help out to turn Terra back to normal without Selene seeing that he was doing this just to be with her again and agreed to let his enemies to also get the Golden Paiush as well.

So as Ven, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Cloud, Reno, Genie, Iago, Mushu, Melody, Sebastion, Armand and even Tseng(who felt uncomfortable) were waving flags Genie magically brought out while he wore a "RA" shirt which was short for Radiant Academy, the magical being cheering, "All right, Team Radiant Academy, let's go! All right!"

"Oh man, this is the most embarrassing thing I've ever done." Sebastion groaned as he waved a flag that was about his size and was easy to hold.

"There they are!" Mickey called out, pointing at the ocean.

True enough, Selene is riding along the surface of the water in a chariot made from a seashell, with Terra pulling the chariot as he winched in pain while his rider is smacking him with a whip, which angered his friends at how much torture their friend was taking as Selene's sea-slave.

"Genie, now!" Ven cried out.

Genie saluted before he leaped at the ocean and then turned himself into a large ramp right in front of the now shocked Selene and Terra. Terra barely managed to miss, and unfortuantely for Selene, she didn't have much luck, because she was thrown into the air, then lands in the water. This allowed Terra to swim free while Selene tried to find him before she used her magic to create a a giant wave beneath her and looked around. Unknown to her, Armand tapped her on the shoulder before he dove back into the ocean so that she couldn't see him.

Tseng then shot out a powder from the powder flare which exploded a little over Selene, covering the evil sea-witch so that she couldn't see a thing. While Selene coughed, Iago took this chance to swoop down and grab the starfish with his talons.

Unfortunately, Selene managed to dissipate the powder and saw what happened before blasting water jets at Iago who was hit and screamed, causing the starfish to fall. The rest of the group dove in to catch it, but one by one, Selene blasted them back hard into the sand as they all cried out in pain. Thankfully, however, Sebastion managed to successfully catch the starfish. Realising what has to be done, gazing at the angered Selene, Sebastion gave her a cheeky grin before he cut the Starfish in half with his pinchers like a pair of sissors.

"My Starfish!" Selene screamed out in dismay.

"Nice one, Sebastion!" Lea cheered as he and the others slowly stood up while recovering from Selene's unexpected attack.

"Uh, save the cheering when we save Terra!" Mushu suddenly cried out, pointing. When the others looked, they could see why he small dragon was concerned.

In the ocean, now that the starfish is destroyed, the starfish shape on Terra's chest faded away which caused him to grunt in pain before passing out and sinking into the ocean, much to his friends' horror.

"Terra!" Ven screamed out as he immediately dove into the sea to save him, with Melody quickly turning into her mermaid form and followed. The two swum into the ocean floor where Terra landed and fortunately had enough strength to carry him back to the surface despite that he was a bit heavier than both of them. Thankfully, Cloud, Tseng, Reno, Mickey and Goofy along with Genie were there to help as the group raced waist deep into the water(or neck deep in Mickey's case) before they all carefully carried Terra to the beach and layed him on the ground.

To their relief, Selene's spell is broken, and Terra was reverted back into his human form. Ven and the others all sighed in relief as Terra regained consciousness as the said young man gave them a thankful smile before he looked behind them and cried out, "Guys, look out!" causing them to turn around to see, to their shock, Selene was now causing Sebastion and then chased after Donald, Lea, Isa, and Mushu who all ran away.

"I'm gonna smoke your oysters!" Selene snarled as she then turned her fin into a pair of human legs with a skirt and continued to blast water at the group who screamed and ran.

"Hey, watch those water jets, lady!" Lea yelled.

"Okay, quickly!" Ven cried out, knowing that they had to end this once and for all.

"Right!" Mickey nodded,

"Guess you're on, Genie." Terra said.

To his surprise, Genie shook his head, saying, "Not me, Ter'. Our secret weapon!"

This was the signal Mickey needed as he gave out a loud whistle, which allowed Selene to take her eyes off the others to glare at him, only to be entrapped by the fish bowl which turned upside down so that she couldn't escape, much to her shock. This was done by Armand who once again dove into the ocean before she could see him. "What!?" She cried out.

With this done, Ven and the rest of the group gathered around with taunting glares at Selene, while Genie explained to the trapped mermaid, "Elemental-proof."

"You deserved that, Selene." Melody said while placing her hands on her hips, while Donald gave Selene a raspberry.

"You've cause a lot of trouble under the sea as well as on land, sea-demon! This is what you get." Sebastion said in agreement.

"Your actions can not be forgiven." Tseng concluded.

"Nya nya nya nya!" Mushu gave Selene a taunting expression.

Realising that she has lost yet again, Selene sat on her knees and crossed her arms, pouting. She had been so close to keeping Terra forever, but once again, she was out-matched and defeated by a bunch of children and their land-dwelling allies, along with a half-mermaid who was more troublesome than the girl turned out to be.

While the group went to leave Selene in her glass prison, Melody dove back into the ocean in her mermaid form along with Sebastion to find Armand who came out of his hiding place as the trio met up for the final bargaining before the departure.

"Thanks for your help, Armand." Melody said while shaking a tentacle with her hand, saying, "Give us a minute to pick up the Golden Paiush and you can have Selene again."

"And I won't tell the King about this at all." Sebastion added.

Armand, pleased how things had turned out, winked at the two.

Sebastion then turned to Melody and said, "Well, I gotta hand it to you, young lady. You made the right choice to trust your friends on land. No wonder you're so comfortable."

"Well, I guess I'm best fitted in both land and sea." Melody shrugged, "But we couldn't have done this without Armand or you, Sebastion." and she gently gave the red crab a kiss on the head which made him blush bright pink at the effection.

* * *

So after they collected the Golden Paiush and said their goodbyes to Sebastion who made his journey back to the Kingdom of Merpeople which was named Atlantica, Ven and his group took a new boat back to their continant towards Radiant City. To their surprise earlier before they left, they also discovered the Crystal Trident near where Selene's chair was and Melody had explain to him about the situation, so with both the Golden Paiush and the Crystal Triden, the group now only had one more special item to find in case Chernabog would awaken.

Selene, still trapped in her glass prison, could only grumble as she watched the land-dwellers leave with their prizes. Just then, a shadow loomed over her, and when she looked, relief spread on her face as Armand stood, flexing his tentacles like biceps, as he prepared to free her.

"Armand! My hero!" Selene cheered happily, and when he lifts the fishbowl off of Selene and throws it into the water, she immediately reached over and hugged him lovingly as he leaned into the effection. "How I've missed my little squidums!"

A moment later, she turned back to the group who were fading out of their sight and told her minion/friend, "We'll get 'em next time, Armand!"

* * *

On the boat, which was revealed to be Genie in boat form, Ven and the others were carefully examining the two sacred items that they found.

"Gosh, I didn't think the Crystal Trident would be found today too." Mickey admitted.

"I guess we were lucky to have that ol' crab to help out." Lea smirked as he leaned against the railing of the Genie sailboat, while Iago shouted in the background, "Full throttle, matey!"

"Thanks, guys." Terra said to the group except for Genie and Iago, "If you guys hadn't hadn't pulled Genie and Iago together I'd still be under Selene's spell. Good thinking."

Ven shrugged, "Well, we did have some unexpected but great help from a new friend and an unexpected ally."

"Considering that it was mind work as well as team work, you did not only Radiant Academy proud, you also made me proud as well." Tseng said to the students who all blushed at the compliment.

"Thanks, sir." Cloud nodded.

"It was nothin', boss." Reno waved casually.

"Two special items down, one to go." Goofy said happily.

"You said it!" Donald cheered happily.

"We're one step closer in saving the world." Mushu said, proudly.

Too bad Iago had to try and take all of the credit for the heroics today as he declared boldy, "Forget the kids and the dragon! It was I who turned the tide of battle! It was I who was destined to command!" while he controlled the rudder of the Genie boat, whacking him too harshly.

"Quit swerving!" Genie grunted as he carried his passengers.

"I'll tolerate no mutiny on my ship!" Iago declared, laughing evilly before Genie used the rudder to smack him and knock him down three times. Now annoyed, he fought back, yelling, "Okay, take that!" and moved the rudder suddenly so that it smacks the side of the boat.

"Ow!" Genie grunted, before replying sarcastically to the parrot, "Aye aye, Captain."

This made everyone groan at the bickering of the two in exasperation, while Isa groaned, "Ugh, here we go again." facepalming himself.

Despite the annoying ride back home, the group knew that they still had to find the Glowing Stone and then figure out when Chernabog would awaken and who would be responsible for the calamity that would hit them.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Underworld, at the chess-board like events unfolding, Hades had been witnessing all this unfold of the most recent incident to his new enemies whom don't know him yet, and to his frustration, the students of Radiant Academy and their allies had once again succeeded in saving the world.

"Ugh!" Hades grunted in frustration, punching the table with both fists and then thumped his face onto the table as well.

This wasn't going well as he had hoped. On the other hand, the next time something strikes, it would hopefully have the group get a taste of their own medicine.

To be Continued...

* * *

 **A/N: Finally got episode 18 done. We're getting closer and closer now towards the conclusion of this series! See you real soon!**


	19. Episode 19: Eye of the Naga

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. Writer's block and such, but that's nothing new, as usual. So, here is episode 19 as I promised and the prologue of the final battle that lies ahead. And as a little disclaimer in case you don't know what a Naga is; Well, basically, they're snake-people. Some are giant, some are human-sized.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 19: Eye of the Naga.

He was having the terrible visions again. The powerful Sorcerer could see this through the sphere that eyed the young teenaged mouse whom he met on New Year's Eve and has met again when he warned the mouse and his friends of the dangers of Maleficent and astondingly, they had succeeded in defeating her once and for all without means of magic, other than the aid of the Genie of course. But the more times the mouse had these visions, the more closer the dreaded Chernabog was close to re-awakening.

Sensing pressence of more bad news behind him, the Sorcerer immediately conjoured up a spell that shield him from an incoming blast of dark magic from Ultimecia who had arrived to try and attack him, but like times before, failed. The two of them were in a spirital realm, stars twinkling around them on a path of dirt surrounded by green fields, trees here and there, and whenever Ultimecia comes, dark towers that try and take over this land, away from the mortal realm.

"Why do you persist in tormenting innocent people, Ultimecia?" The Sorcerer questioned, exasperated as he turned to face the evil Sorceress.

"Why do you persist in tormenting and shielding yourself from _me_ , Yen Sid?" Ultimecia asked back in sheer annoyance. "You're so tiresome with your hopeless causes."

"On the contrary." Yen Sid began, glaring sternly at his enemy. "It is _you_ who have the hopeless cause. Good shall always triumph over evil for love is the

strength of good."

Ultimecia scoffed at the old Sorcerer's words. "Love, you say? Don't make me laugh, Yen Sid. It is no more than a tingly feeling. It is weak!"

The old man shook his head, "No. Witness these souls, Ultimecia."

With a wave of his hand which glowed in light, another sphere showing off the mortal world appeared before the two powerful entinies. First it showed Terra and Aqua giggling, then Zack and Aerith who were on a date to the park, then finally, Rinoa who was dragging an embarrassed but surprisingly smiling Squall down the hallways of Radiant Academy, all three couples perfectly happy with each other.

The more Ultimecia watched, the more she felt utterly disgusted by the display shown before her, even as Yen Sid dismissed the sphere, saying to the woman firmly, "All your spells, all your incantations, all your potions could never destroy their or anyone else's love." before vanishing in a thin piller of light.

"How dare you pull your cheap parlor tricks!" Ultimecia growled angrily. It disgusted her to think that Yen Sid would try and get her to understand that love was the key to defeat even her, especially since she recongised four of them as the children among others who tried and failed to keep the Bad Luck Creature from her a year ago.

But then, as she thought, perhaps the only way to find out for certain was to test the so called love of these people. By having gazed at Rinoa and Squall, she had a feeling that those two's love wasn't as strong as Terra & Aqua, Zack & Aerith's, or anyone else's. Besides, after last time, she'd ought to be careful and decide to target the weaker ones first as the weak only made her stronger. With this cruel and evil idea in mind, she grinned sinisterly before she cloaked herself with her magic, instantly transforming into a more beautiful human woman with long dark hair, a white sleeveless thank top with a black collar, black long dress loose skirt and black high-heels.

Ultimecia will show Yen Sid how wrong he was, unaware that it was the complete opposite of this knowlage, though this was more of a trial than anything else.

* * *

Mickey yawned as he stretched his arms as high as he could, then rubbed his eyes tiredly as he followed Minnie, Elena, Aqua, Aerith, and Rinoa on a shopping spree through the street-like halls of the Markets which was like an indoor street in a building in the strees of Radiant City. Despite having found the first two special items needed to defeat Chernabog in case the evil monster did come back, that was a month and half ago, and it was coming dangerously close to two months if not three to find the third item; the Glowing Stone.

Through out the last few months, everyone tried to learn a little bit more on Chernabog, but their only clue was that in legend each night on Bald Mountain he would arise and summon demons and the souls of the undead for rituals and only the sunlight and the bells of the goddess would send him back to slumber. But that hasn't been done in years, especially since he'd been shield by the powerful sorcerer. It didn't help that Mickey still had nightmares of Chernabog's awakening, making him exhausted and unable to concentrate lately to the point having to study at night and take naps after short meals everyday.

"Boring!" Iago's voice snapped him back to reality, as Mickey and the girls with him looked to see their parrot friend perched on a stand near a pottery store near an empty part of the mall, and as usual, he sounded annoyed. "This is boring!"

Even though Mickey kept his similiar feelings to himself, he still couldn't help but mentally agree with the bird. Girls always tend to over-stay their shopping sprees, wanting to pick out anything girls usually like.

"You and Mickey could've gone for suger dates with the guys." Minnie suggested, while she also casted a slightly annoyed glance at her boyfriend who caught her look and smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I could've, but you said that you gal's wanted a guy escourt today and I voulenteered." Mickey reminded, before automatically rubbed his eyes again. "I would've done better if I had a decent's night sleep."

"What about you?" Aqua asked to Iago.

"No way!" Iago answered, "I touch one date and, _**wham!**_ I'm bloated for a day!"

He then smirked teasingly as he added to the women of the group, "Besides, I'd much rather much be here with you ladies."

Elena, Aerith, Minnie and Aqua giggled at this tease, while Rinoa teasingly responded to the bird, "Love you too, Iago."

While Mickey chuckled at this joke inspite himself, Iago gasped in shock however, as he flew over to the black-haired teenaged woman, saying worriedly and cautionly, "Rin', you shouldn't kid around like that. What would people think if they heard ya'?"

"Oh, anybody would've known she was only kiddin'. Besides, how much trouble can she'd get into if people couldn't tell if she was serious or not?" Mickey pointed out, with the others nodding in agreement.

"Perhaps they would think she should get a new boyfriend." An seemingly familiar yet unfamiliar voice spoke behind the group, and when Mickey and his friends turned to look behind them, most of them were surprised to see another stand that wasn't there before that was just...there. Behind the white counter was an unfamiliar woman with black hair and unaware to the group, it was Ultimecia in disguise, with fake products which, given to Rinoa, would test her and Squall. To think that both Aerith and Aqua, and now Mickey and Minnie, another loving couple, she realised, were here too.

"See?" Iago said to the group.

Ignoring Iago, Ultimecia 'kindly' offered to the women of the group, "Something to enhance your radiant beauty, my dears?"

"Wait a minute." Aqua blinked, confused. "I don't remember seeing you there before."

"Me neither." Mickey, Minnie, Aerith, Elena and Rinoa choursed inadvertedly.

"Oh, the lights from the ceiling can play tricks to the weary shopper." Ultimecia lied but sounded very convincing, before gesturing at all of the make-up, beauty products and health-cream products. "This is where Stella always sells her goods." introducing herself as 'Stella'( **A/N: Ring any bells on the name?** ).

"Gee, I was sure-"

"Oh, do you have any shadow?" Iago interrupted Mickey, quickly gesturing at the products, asking to 'Stella', "Something to make my beak look smaller?"

'Stella' didn't pay attention to the bird, handing out a couple of pink petals in her hand, offering to Rinoa and her friends in a slow but careful attempts to get to them. "Perhaps some cherry-bolossem petals from Wutai? Your kiss will win any man you choose."

"What?" Mickey asked, shocked.

"Oh, no thank you." Minnie kindly declined, gently latching her arms around Mickey's right arm and resting her head on her shoulding, saying happily, "He is the only man for my heart." which made him blush and mentally relieved.

"I have already chosen a wonderful man too." Rinoa declined as well, thinking about Squall. Aqua, Aerith and Elena shook their heads as a kind 'no thank you' while thinking about Terra, Zack, and in Elena's case, Tseng despite not having become his girlfriend yet. But he was the man of her dreams.

Iago in the meantime, held a small hand-mirror and stretched out his eye-brow a little while requesting to 'Stella', trying to act charmingly or flirtingly, "Oh! How 'bout an eyebrow thinning agent? Plucking doesn't do diddly."

Still, 'Stella' ignored him, and instead said to the teenagers, "Young men, like him here, for young ladies. How nice! They must love you all very much."

"I sure do love Minnie." Mickey said proudly, "She's perfect the way she is."

"Awww. Mickey, that's sweet." Minnie sighed happily.

"Well, you both do seem to be a happy couple." 'Stella' commented, before saying carefully, "But do you and their boyfriends notice any winkles? If not, then be careful."

This gave the teenagers a pause, staring at the woman in confusion and slight worry. "Winkles?" Elena asked, worriedly.

"Oh, oh, small ones." 'Stella' said as she approached the group, handing each of the girls a hand mirror for them to get a closer look while Mickey now gazed at Stella suspiciously at this comment. "Around the eyes. Hardly noticeable... yet."

When Minnie, Elena, Aqua, Aerith and Rinoa looked at themselves in the mirrors, Iago perched himself onto Rinoa's shoulder after he heard this, before saying as he realised he could see the said winkles, "Yeah, I see 'em. Oh, look. They make a little smiley face."

"It's a fact of life, my dears. The pretty face of youth just doesn't stay with us and then the man we love wants another pretty face." 'Stella' told the girls.

"That's not true." Mickey carefully protested, though he did find himself getting annoyed now by this woman's claims. "I'd never do that to Minnie. Besides, there's more to her than just her beauty. She's sweet, kind, fun, funny, smart and brave. Huh, why she's braver than I am sometimes."

"Maybe for you, Mickey, but I've seen other guys do what this lady said." Iago pointed out casually as he landed on the ground, rubbing some pink cream on his beak, before admitting as though it was an everyday thing. "Heck, I've done it... _several times_!"

" _Iago!_ " Mickey, Minnie, Aqua, Elena, and Aerith scolded while Rinoa glared at him.

"What? I was just saying the facts." Iago shrugged cluelessly.

Rinoa turned her attention to 'Stella' and told her, "Well, Squall isn't like that. He loves _me_ , not the way I look."

"The same with Terra." Aqua added.

"And Zack." Aerith added.

"And...someone I have a crush on." Elena said, careful not to say Tseng's name to avoid embarrassment, though she couldn't hide the faint pink that was starting to form on her cheeks. Besides, Tseng's a Turk, Second in Command, and he's usually very busy. Elena was...well, just Elena, a student of Radiant Academy training to become a Turk.

"And I've never doubted Mickey or what he sees in me." Minnie concluded, with Mickey nodding in agreement.

"Perhaps." 'Stella' said, in a tone of challenging, before she approached Rinoa once more, holding out a bottle that looked...sort of like old fashioned like from the 1880's as she continued, "But can you be sure? I have a very special lotion I use each night. When I awake in the morning, my beauty is flawless."

Just then, the group looked to their left when they heard Goofy's voice call out just about three meters from them and 'Stella', "Hey, Mickey! We've got some good news! Ay-yhuck! We've got an update on the you-know-what and you-know-who!" and they saw him with Terra, Ven, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Mushu, and Zack who waved at them.

"Oh! Just a moment, Goofy." Mickey replied, before saying to 'Stella', "Sorry, ma'am. But we gotta go. Have a good day." gently tugging Minnie as he walked towards their friends, with Aqua, Elena, and Aerith following seconds behind.

Rinoa was about to follow when 'Stella' whispered in her ear, secretly handing her the bottle of lotion, "Take the lotion, my dear. No charge."

Despite the sudden bad feeling about this, Rinoa just nodded and hid the bottle in her hand-bag before rushing to catch up to her friends. Though what 'Stella' told her did give her some worries. What if she was right? What if Squall only loved because of her beauty? She so far into her thoughts that she didn't pay attention to what the others were saying, and just walked with them in silence, until Elena noticed the troubled look on her face, and asked, "Rinoa? What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Rinoa replied after she was startled out of her thoughts.

Iago in the meantime, walked beside Mushu and asked curiously, "So, notice anything about my beak?"

"Oh, I've noticed somethin' alright." Mushu smirked, grinning as he said, "It's grown into a big schnoze." while stretching his mouth to make it longer and larger before shaping it back to normal, before walking off, much to Iago's anger.

" _"Big schnoze"_!? Who asked you!?" Iago exclaimed.

Little did the group know, this was just the taste of the next trial that would test them and possibly delay their goals in finding the Glowing Stone. Because once they were out of earshot, Ultimecia chuckled darkly to herself, her eyes reverting back to normal through her disguise. Those children were so gullible and naive. They don't know what they were in for; especially Rinoa and Squall, as their love was about to be tested.

* * *

 _Mickey was having the nightmare again, he was certain of it. This time though, he was trapped on the edge of a cliff that was a good three hundred feet above sea-water. It didn't help that a giant whale with large sharp teeth was out at the ocean and had swallowed a cargo ship whole in one sitting, and behind him, as he turned to look, was the massive giant hand of the Bat-like monster, Chernabog, he guessed, stretched out, palm open, and slowly making it's way to engulf him._

 _The young mouse trembled in fear as he stepped backwards, until the last step chipped off the little edge of the cliff and he had to stop himself from falling. Though in retrospect, Mickey would rather drown than get captured. But his body was frozen, refusing to obey him to run or jump. So the only thing he could do now was brace himself and crouched low while futilely tried to shield himself with his arms as the giant hand engulfed him..._

* * *

"AHHH!" Mickey screamed as he jolted upright in bed, panting and his face covered in cold sweat. He looked around before sighing in relief as he realised that he had indeed been another nightmare. But what concerned him was that they were becoming more and more frequant and starting to happen to him almost everyday now. Did that mean that Chernabog's awakening was happening very soon?

He hoped that wasn't the case, but the way how the giant monster was only interested in him, Mickey shuddered as he rubbed his arms as he realised that this may be the case. The Glowing Stone had to be found quickly, or everyone in the world were all doomed.

Just then, someone knocked on his door and by judging how it was banged furiously, Mickey guessed that something was wrong. So, still tired, he leaped from his bed after throwing away his sheet, deciding to worry about making up his bed later, before he opening his door, revealing a rather panting Lea.

"Lea? What's the matter? You're all sweaty." Mickey said, worriedly.

"And I feel sweaty and gross." Lea replied, before saying urgently, "But nevermind that! We've got a problem!"

* * *

After Mickey got dressed and cleaned up as quickly as possible, Lea all but dragged him through the hallways of the dorms before the two finally reached Rinoa's room, where Ven, Aqua, Terra, Isa, Goofy, Donald, Mushu, Iago, Genie, and a rather shellshocked Squall were. When Mickey looked, his eyes widened in the similiar shocked expression as his friends, and even by second glance, Lea was once again shocked. In bed, was Rinoa...and terrifyingly, the bottom half of her body was...half-giant snake!

"W-what happened? How did this happen?" Mickey asked, horrified.

"That's what I want to know, and I feel guilty because this happened." Squall grunted. His expression of when he first saw his lover like this was too much to handle. None the less, he immediately wanted to do something, anything, desperately to solve this.

Rinoa, who was half-sobbing, and who had made the mistake of putting on the pink-gooey liquid of the lotion from the bottle, showed him and everyone, "This lotion! That woman at the Mall gave me this lotion and look what it's done!"

Iago, horrified as he remembered putting on the other products yesterday as well, cried out in horror, "Cursed cosmetics! I'm doomed!" before asking in paranioa, "Is my beak sprouting hair!?" only for Mushu to bonk him on the head, causing the parrot to give him an angry(not to mention painful) glance.

"And you let that lady sell that to you?" Isa asked, skeptically. "Great, now we have to handle the problem of our friend turning into a Naga."

"A what-ta?" Lea asked, dumbfounded.

"A Naga." Aqua muttered after realising that Isa was right. "Half-human, half-snake. Whatever this lotion is, it's capable of turning anyone into one."

"Yeah, I've heard about Nagas." Mushu said, worriedly, not to mention scaredly. "People were pretty terrified of them."

"Well, we should go and find that lady and fast!" Mickey declared.

"Can't." Ven said, dejectedly. "I already sent Genie out to found her."

Genie nodded grimly, adding, "Yup, me and my boys looked everywhere! Not a trace! Zipp-o! She's history!"

Rinoa by now had reduced to tears, asking through crying, "What do I do now?"

"We'll find a cure." Squall promised as he sat next to her, in his attempt to calm her down. Naga or not, Rinoa was still his lover. There was no away in a million years he was going to just abandon her.

"What if there isn't one?" Rinoa sobbed.

"Well, we won't know 'til we look, right?" Lea tried to lighten the mood. "I mean, there has to be a cure for somethin' like this."

"Sure there is!" Genie perked up, "The Tree of Renewal." before he magically brought out a book and showed everyone else in the room a picture of a tree in a garden-like area with pink fruit growing on it. "It's fruit is good for whatever ails you."

Iago immediately groaned in dismay at this, grumbling, "Oh, not this again! First Selene turned Terra into a shark, and now somebody else is turning Rin' into a snake? And we have to go to the Tree just to turn her back? What about Chernabog!?"

"That'll have to wait." Mickey said firmly. "Right now, Rinoa needs us more than anythin'!"

"Can't we just split up?" Donald suggested with a shrug.

Goofy pointed out worriedly, "I don't think that's a good idea, and we don't know how dangerous it'll be to get to the Tree of Rena, uh, Raul, um, Rini...?"

"Renewal." Terra sighed, before saying, "But Goofy's right. It's best that we all go, and thankfully, since today's Saturday, we won't have to worry about missing classes again."

"It's okay, Rinoa. I swear on my life, I will cure you." Squall promised to Rinoa who immediately threw herself into his arms and he held her tight, not wanting to let go. And even if they failed to get to the tree, he wasn't going to stop loving her, no matter what.

And little did the group know, they were carefully watched by Ultimecia who, in her realm after leaving the mortal world behind, was furious on the fact that Genie knew about the Tree of Renewal. None the less, she was confident that neither of those children or their allies would ever make it to the tree itself.

* * *

After the Headmasters knew what was going on, they approved the group's request to journey to find the Tree of Renewal, which Genie had easily transported Ven and his friends to the first map-mark of their destination since teleporting straight to the tree was out of question. They also hoped that it would lead them to the Glowing Stone. Given choice, this area did suggest that the final item was located somewhere in this region where Agrabah used to be.

Now Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Squall, Rinoa, Iago and Mushu, along with Reddy the Red Carpet, stood before a large stone slab that stood in the middle of nowhere with a very large hand print on it.

"What's this?" Ven asked, puzzled.

"Think of it as a map." Genie explained with a smile. "Ancient nomads marked the way to the tree. I'll do the honors!" he voulenteered as he enlarged his right hand to match the size of the hand-print, only to realise that he was one finger short as the hand had five fingers instead of four. To make up for it, he magically grew an extra finger before he pressed onto the mark, which shoots out a ball of fire which flies away and leaves behind a trail of smoke into a distance to the right. "We go that way!"

The group smiled in relief, before Ven said optimistically to Rinoa, "See? You're good is cured." in which the young woman gave him and Squall a half smile in return.

* * *

A few hours later, the group were making their way through a swamp while keeping an eye out for danger as they journey to the tree. Rinoa on the other hand, was carried by four Genies in a royal carrier like back in the Arabian Times. The real Genie went up to the young woman, offering a few things to cheer her up, "Hors d'oevers? Mint tea? Slippers?"

He quickly cringed at the slippers part and immediately made the items disappear, muttering apologetically to Rinoa who didn't look fazed, "Oh, sorry. I think I'll see how dinner's doing in the oven." and with that, Genie zipped right back into the Lamp which was in Ven's pocket.

"Thanks, but this isn't neccessary." Rinoa said to the four other Genies. "I'll walk... slither... whatever it is I do." which made her carriers stop, and then she slithered out of the carrier and slithered her way to the others.

Iago, not wanting to let the carriage vanish, and that he wanted his turn to be carried, flew over and layed down in Rinoa's chair, laying back as he sighed contendedly, "Well, no sense lettin' it all go to waste."

Unfortunately, the four genies disappear, causing the ride to drop, and Iago is knocked into the cloth-ceiling, before the ride disappears too, causing him to drop to the ground with a thud. Grumbling, he placed one wing onto the side of his face, while tabbing the ground questionly with the other in annoyance. He grew more annoyed when Donald, Lea and Isa bursted out laughing at what just happened.

"You kinda had that comin'." Lea said through laughter.

"Ha, ha. You make good jokes." Iago deadpanned.

"Thank you." Lea grinned teasingly as he mocked a bow, which had Isa and Donald both roll their eyes at this to their red-haired friend.

"Shh!" Squall suddenly shushed, causing everyone to tense. Especially when they heard rustling coming from somewhere and the group became vigilant.

All of the sudden, a large pinkish furry bear along with a bluish-green bear came charging out of through the trees, much to the group's shock, before most of them were knocked down by the two animals. Rinoa, Mushu and Iago were the only ones that managed to escape as they were forced to stumble back, but both Rinoa and Mushu cried out to their friends as they were trapped underneath the two bears that appeared of nowhere.

"This is bad! Really, really, bad!" Mickey panicked, quivering in fear as the bears eyed him and his other trapped friends hungrily.

"I'll say. Didn't see this coming." Ven muttered in agreement.

" _Come_ on! Haven't we had enough of a bad day?" Lea groaned, trying to break free, but was pinned tight to the ground.

Iago groaned as he shook his head in irritation, "It's bad enough we're walking through a soggy, stinky swamp, we have to get eaten by wild bears not nature in Agrabah too!?"

"We're doomed! They're doomed first! There are a couple thing I _know_ they're bound to chew first!" Mushu cried out hysterically.

Rinoa gasped in horror at the sight of her friends and lover about to be mulled by the bears, before desperation and an insane idea formed in her mind. With that in mind and with anger at the two animals, she used her snake tail to tower herself over them, in which, noticing the light dimming, the two bears turned around slowly to see an very angry snake-woman towering before them, glaring heatedly into their souls.

"Let them go!" Rinoa demanded. "NOW!"

The bears shook in fear by the anger that they both leaned away from their prey but didn't move out of the way. Instead, Rinoa surprisingly grabbed the two with her coils, holding them in a tight grip, causing the two to choke while the others, freed, watched in shock and surprise. Rinoa then whirls them around a few times and lets go, sending them flying over the forest from where the came from, and surprisingly, the two bears were screaming out, "Help, help, help! HELP!"

Ven and the others watched the bears disappear into the distance before turning their gaze back to Rinoa who lowered herself back to ground level, before they stood up and then Lea let's out an impressed whistle, saying, "Whoa, Rin'. Remind me to not prank you on April Fools Day anymore."

"Even so..." Rinoa muttered, guilt and realization at what she's done. "I've become a monster."

"No. No, you haven't." Squall pointed out as he approached her, saying comfortedly, "You're the brave woman that I love." hugging he as she buried her face on his shoulder.

"He's right, Rinoa. You saved us from the two bears." Aqua said in agreement.

"Just a question, though." Isa muttered, frowning. "Where'd those two bears come from?"

Despite this, none of them knew the answer, so they just kept going, with their determination to turn Rinoa back into a human increased, unaware of the truths of the said bears.

* * *

"AAAHHH!" The two Bears screamed into they smashed face first into a rock before collasping onto the ground, dazed before they morphed into two devils, Pain and Panic who were sent by Hades to kill the group as immediate last resort, but now they defeated by a woman who was turning into a Naga.

"Oh man!" Panic, well, panicked. "Hades is gonna kill us when he finds out what happened!" thinking about the possibilities of all kinds of punishments that were going to be tormenting, torturous and extremely painful in many ways.

Until Pain had an idea and pointed out, "You mean, _if_ , he founds out."

"Of course he's gonna fi-" Panic cuts himself off once he realised what his friend had meant, and then quickly hope replaced fear, as he said, almost happily, "If...if is good." with Pain nodding in agreement with a grin.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ven and the others had arrived in a small canyon in which was the location to the next marker that would lead them towards the tree. At the moment, they were taking a break after the ordeal of the two bears that attacked them from nowhere. As Rinoa and Goofy rested near a rock, Iago flew up towards them, really amazed by Rinoa's actions earlier.

"Boy, Rin', that was some fancy tail work you used back there on those bears! Boom! Whack!" Iago praised, before landing on the ground and asked, a little skeptically as the snake tail is such a good weapon, "You sure ya wanna lose that tail? It comes in handy in tense situations."

Rinoa answered by first wrapping him in her coils, before saying in a fake sweet tone which made Goofy slink away nervously as he gulped nervously, "Good point, Iago. It is handy. There's even some lotion left. You're welcome to use some if you want."

Realising this was a threat, Iago shook his head, "No, no!" and was relieved when she lets him go, before he said apologetically, his hands/winds up in defeat, "You're right, Rin'. Bad idea. Lose the tail."

Meanwhile, the rest of the group, including Genie, were looking for any signs of either the next marker, or hopefully, the Glowing Stone as Mickey had admitted that his nightmares were generally getting the point that he's having them almost every night now, and he had a feeling that Chernabog was going to wake up pretty soon. Mushu went up to a stone tablet as he grumbled at the fact that things were getting more and more unusual.

"Man, we don't get much of a break these days, do we? Sure hope next year will be less traumatic and eventful." Mushu said to himself as he leaned one hand onto the stone, only to stumble when the entire thing, as he didn't realise that he unexpectedly found the next marker, collasped backwards, which made him stumble and fall over with an alarmed cry.

This was heard by his friends who immediately came over to see what happened, and all of them, Mushu included once he saw what just happened, stunned that they found the marker and it was leading into a tunnel. "Whadd'ya know." Terra muttered, impressed.

"Good spotting, Mushu." Ven praised with a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for asking that I'm okay." Mushu grumbled in sarcasm as he dusted himself off.

"I guess we go through this tunnel." Squall stated, taking the lead, with everyone else quickly following close behind, traversing through the cave with caution, unaware of what they were about to face next, as Ultimecia, watching from her realm, was about to send in something else to stop them on their journey.

* * *

As the group continued onward through the dimmed light, it wasn't long before Rinoa spotted something up ahead and pointed, "Look!"

True to her word, was apparently light shining through the ceiling, which meant only one thing to the group as they gazed at it. Iago was the first to realise what it was, "Sunlight!" before declaring as he took off flying towards it, having had enough of being stuck in the tunnels as he felt a bit claustrophobic. "Enough of this spelunking! I'm outta here!"

"Geez, he really whines a lot, doesn't he?" Lea sighed as he rolled his eyes at Iago, with Isa and Mushu both nodding in agreement.

"I dunno, this place sure is spooky." Goofy admitted, scaredly as he glanced around nervously. "I don't help but feel like we're not alone in here."

"Aw, phooey! I'm not scared." Donald said, brushing the comment off, only to freeze up for a second when Lea unexpectedly tapped him on the back of his neck. Donald screamed while leaping three feet into the air and landed into Mickey's arms as the young mouse cried out slightly when he caught his friend while stumbling, but managed to keep his balance. Donald on the other hand, wrapped his arms around his friend's neck, shivering in fear.

Lea bursted out laughing at his joke, asking teasingly, "You were saying, Mr.'I'm-not-scared'?" as Donald, quickly realising what happened, glared at the still laughing redhead.

"Stop teasing." Aqua told him firmly, as she wasn't impressed with what happened either.

"Yes, mother." Lea said sarcastically, only to get thwacked on the head by the blue-haired woman. "Ow!"

"C'mon, fellas. We should get goin'." Mickey pointed out as he put Donald back on the ground despite that the two of them being the same height as one another. They and the others then hurried to catch up to Iago who by now was underneath where the light was coming up.

"Yes! A way out!" Iago cheered as he sky the blue sky above him through the hole of the rock ceiling, before he glanced down and below him, was another hole which didn't seem to end as all he could see further down was pitch blackness. "For birds only, I mean." He added, counting himself lucky for the advantage.

He might've spoken too soon, because suddenly, a gust of wind from the hole below him blows him into the hole above and has him landing outside as Iago cried out in confusion and alarm. The others rush over and stop at the two holes, wondering what in the world just happened, until Isa noticed how the winds were coming from the ground.

"Call me crazy, but I think these winds might give us a boost to get outta here." The blue-haired teenaged boy theoried.

"Yeah, you're crazy alright." Lea said half a second later. "We're too heavy for this."

"Nah, we're not heavy for this." Genie told him encouragingly as he figured out what it was, explaining to the group, "It's the legendary Tunnel of Wind! Ancient nomads used it as a way out of here. Watch."

To demostrate, Genie took hold of Reddy as the strong winds blew upwards again, taking the two up immediately with ease as though they were light as a feather. Once outside, the two landed near Iago who was still seated on the ground of another small canyon which led to a jungle nearby. Genie then turned himself into a five year old boy and bounced around Iago(just to annoy him), "That was fun! Can I ride it again, Daddy? Huh? Can I? Can I? Can I? Please?"

When Genie turned back to normal, he called down to everyone else waiting, "It's fine! Come on up!"

"Ready?" Terra asked to the others.

However, before they could respond even as some of them were nervous about the timing, not to mention the darkness below them, they all heard growling of something dangerous behind them before they immediately turned and gasped, with the eyes of Mushu, Goofy, Donald and Mickey bulging out in horror. Only now they all realised that Goofy had been right; A two-headed dog, the size of a lion, was advancing on them, looking for a meal.

"Oh, come _on!_ " Lea groaned in dismay. "What is this? Bad animal day or somethin'!?"

"Nevermind that! Just jump!" Ven cried out immediately.

Taking the risk, Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Mushu, Squall and Rinoa immediately, with slight hesitation, leaped into the hole below and just as they screamed as they were about to disappear into the darkness, the wind blows them upward, allowing them to land outside with Genie, Reddy and Iago. However, upon hearing the roars having followed them, it didn't take Ven and the others long to realise that the two-headed dog wasn't going to give up on them, as the mutt had actually did what they just did.

"Whatever you do, don't look!" Mushu warned to Genie.

But this warning was ignored as Genie looked to see what was going on, only to scream out as he saw the dog come parraling up towards him via the Tunnel of Winds, "Ahh! Something's coming and it's got two heads." zipping away just as the mutt appeared and landed on the ground, growling threateningly at the group who backed off a little.

"Ooh! The ancient nomads never mentioned this!" Genie shuddered as he hugged Ven in slight fear.

"Neither did any history classes." Ven admitted in agreement.

The two-headed dog leaped to attack the two, and while Ven was forced to be pushed out of the way, Genie turned himself into a dog-bone which one of the heads grabbed. "Easy, boy, just don't wreck the furniture!" He said before he was tossed way and crashed into a tree nearby.

Everyone was forced to leap or jump out of the way while some of those who brought their training weapons just in case they had to face dangers swiped at the beast, but they were shoved down one by one despite their numbers. Soon it turned it's attention to Rinoa who was backed up against the stone wall of a cliff, helpless. Iago, who had been hovering in the air to avoid the trouble, had an idea and desperately called out to the teenaged young woman, "Use your tail! Whap! Whap!" swinging his tail-feathers to demostrate quickly.

Realising that this may be her only way out, Rinoa did so and whipped her tail to force the two-headed dog back until Squall, Terra, Lea and Isa saw their chance to body-slam into the mutt, forcing it back and giving Rinoa the chance to escape. Though the four were left with scratch marks as the dog lashed at them and attempted to eat them. Fortuately, Mickey jumped and bounced on both heads, angering it/them, giving his friends the chance to crawl away. Aqua led Rinoa away, though what was happening to the black-haired woman made Aqua's eyes widen in shock, the others unaware and far too busy to notice.

Mushu then sneakily used a small flame-thrower on the dog's tail, catching it on fire and causing the mutt, who was feeling the increasing heat, cry out in pain as was running around trying to get the fire to go out. Ven then led it towards the hole and in the nick of time, leaped onto Reddy at Ven's cry while the dog accidently fell back into the hole and about to disappear. It would've too, if it wasn't for the Tunnel of Wings sending it back up.

"Genie, close up the hole!" Ven cried out, quickly.

Genie quickly did so as he brought out a large metal scrap, screwing it into the ground over the hole, too late for the mutt to return as the dog didn't make it back out.

 _ **CLANG!**_

It hit the bottom of the metal, only managing to put a two-head-shaped dent in it before falling back down, unable to escape. Everyone sighed in relief at the close call as Mushu joked, "That's it, no more hot-dogs for me for a life time."

"That'll give that mutt a double headache." Lea said, trying to joke with a weak grin.

"Uh, guys?" Isa spoke up, his attention now turned to the two women. "I think Rin's got a much bigger problem."

"Aqua, what's wrong?" Rinoa asked, as Aqua was struggling to find the right words to bring up the bad news.

When Ven and the others turned to see what had Isa and Aqua so concerned, their eyes widened in shock and disbelief, Squall muttering in dismay in what was happening to his lover, "No...Rinoa!"

During the battle against the two-headed dog, Rinoa's upper body...had become more snake, though her hair and face were still human. Only downside was that her arms were snake and scaled, her teeth were sharp, and her eyes, having turned completely red with snake-eye slit pupils. Even her tail has now spikes that grew and looked a little deadly.

"What is it?" Rinoa asked, thankfully still in her normal voice and normal human personality. Still, most of the group's jaws dropped, Genie's literally dropped right to the ground, wide in shock and horror.

Suddenly feeling the dread, and also seeing that her tongue felt...out of place, Rinoa gazed at Genie and requested, "Genie, I want to see myself."

"Um, Rinoa...?" Mickey tried to intervene, as none of them wanted Rinoa to see that she's gotten worse in her transformation.

But the young woman ignored him and pleaded, "Please, Genie."

Genie on the other hand, bring up a mirror, instead was showing off a fake reflection that acted like Rinoa didn't transform at all, lying, "Oh, yeah. You've got a smudge right there."

"Genie!" Rinoa groaned in annoyance, having noticed that the reflection she was seeing was fake. Her friends and lover were hiding something, and she wanted to know even though half of her didn't want to know. But she felt that it was probably best.

Reluctantedly, Genie braced himself as he flipped the mirror to saw Rinoa her real reflection. As everyone predicted, she gasped in horror as she saw what she had become. Her heart freezing up in dismay and disbelief. It looked like her transformation was slow and wasn't even done yet.

"If she gets any worse," Iago began worriedly to Mushu, "You won't be the only scaly guy in dragons and reptiles club."

"Rinoa..." Squall approached his lover, uncertain on how she was feeling. He wished he could do something, anything, to keep her hopes up until they found the tree to cure her.

"I'm okay, Squall." Rinoa said, trying to keep her emotions in.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rinoa." Mickey sighed, now feeling guilty for what happened. "I should've stopped that woman from givin' ya the lotion, then none of this would've happened.

Rinoa shook her head, saying, "It's not your fault, Mickey. I was gullible and naive."

"We'll find the cure, and even if we can't, you're still you, and that'll never change." Ven told her firmly with determination. "You're still Rinoa, no matter what." with everyone else, especially Squall, all nodding in agreement.

"We're your friends, no matter what." Terra added.

Tears welled up in Rinoa's eyes at such kindness from her friends. "Thanks, everyone. You're sweet."

* * *

Half an hour later, Ven and his friends arrived at a very old and seemingly creaking bridge over a very deep and rough ravine. The bridge was a good 200 feet up and dangerous if no one was careful. Heck, the bridge itself didn't look very promising either. Terra just took a very careful test step and the bridge nearly broke instantly before stepping back to safety.

"I don't think this is safe." Terra announced, worriedly.

"Not to worry!" Genie proclaimed proudly, as he then turned himself into a new bridge, solid and really safe. "Well, c'mon across."

"Sweet!" Lea grinned, walking ahead onto the genie-bridge. The others followed carefully, even though Reddy was a little disappointed to not having to carry anyone to the other side safely.

"Ay-yhuck! Gawrsh, this sure is safer than the old wrickerty bridge." Goofy thought, relieved and comfortable.

Unfortunately, he spoke too soon, as suddenly the winds picked up. It was so strong that Genie was having trouble keeping everyone on board. Realising that they were about to fall, everyone picked up their pace and broke into a run to reach the other side safely. Iago had to hang onto Aqua so that he wasn't blown away like last time in the Tunnel of Winds. Unfortunately, Squall couldn't make it as he pushed Rinoa to the other side quickly before the winds would blast her off. But he was thrown off as the winds forced Genie to turn back to normal.

"Squall!" Rinoa cried out, before she had an idea and used her tail to reach down and grabbed him just in time before he was out of her reach. However, the moment her coils touched him, he winced before she pulled him back up. As Rinoa layed Squall on the ground, she and everyone noticed that he didn't get up straight away. Instead, he was shivering, his eyes were closed, and on his neck, black lines began to form.

"Squall? What's wrong with him?" Rinoa asked, worriedly.

Aqua bent down and checked, before she gasped in shock and answered, "It's Venom...from your barbs." causing Rinoa to gasp in sever horror.

Not only Rinoa had turned into a Naga, she had turned into a poisonous Naga that, even by a single touch to anyone else, they would easily get poisoned, just like a deadly vemonous toad or snakes or spiders. Worse still, in her attempt to save her lover, Rinoa had poisoned Squall. Breaking down crying, she sobbed in heartache, "What have I done!?"

"He's getting worse." Donald said, worriedly.

"Reddy, cover him." Lea ordered to the red Carpet who did as he requested, covering Squall to keep him warm, while Aqua brought out a cloth she brought with and with Genie giving her a small bowl of water, she cleaned up the venom as much as she could while everyone else surrounded Squall, praying for the best.

"Squall. Hang in there." Ven pleaded in a whisper.

Eventually, Squall was recovering, the vemon easing from his vains, and his tempreture returning to normal. As he slowly blinked his eyes open, by then, Rinoa, much to everyone's shock, had fully transformed into a Naga, her hair replaced by a cobra's head, and her face attached to the said cobra frills. Even so, as Squall saw Rinoa hovering over him, despite her looks, he sighed in relief.

"Rinoa! You're okay." Squall cried out in relief, sitting up and fully recovered. He reached out to face her face, but she slithered back, shaking her head, tears still falling. "Rinoa?"

"Don't touch me." Rinoa pleaded, sobbing. "My bards almost killed you. If I can't touch you, how can we be together?"

"Rinoa." Squall stood up, "We'll be together as soon as we find the tree."

"But what if there is no tree?"

"Don't think like that."

"Guys, come quick!" Lea suddenly cried out.

Hearing Lea's exclaim, the rest of the group turned to see that he found another marker against the wall of another rock cliff. Everyone sighed in relief, as Ven nodded, saying, "I bet we're very close."

The moment the blonde-haired teen placed his hand on the hand-shaped marker, the Marker itself shuddered before it sank into the ground. On the other side of it, was a beautiful valley of green, and right in the middle, was the most beautiful tree any of them had ever seen. Growing on the tree were several pear-shaped pink fruit that looked sweet and delicious. Everyone gazed at it happily with hope as they had made it. They found the cure they were looking for. The Tree of Renewal.

"I knew we'd find it." Squall sighed in relief.

* * *

Ultimecia, who had been keeping an eye on the group since the day started, was furious that they had made it and had come further than she thought. She clutched her fist in sheer anger, before another idea and realization dawned onto her. Squall still loved Rinoa because he hoped she would change back. The evill Sorceress then chuckled, knowing what to do. She knew how to destroy love all together once and for all and now was time for her entrance.

* * *

As Ven and the others approached the tree, Squall easily plucked one of the fruit with a smile, giving it to a happy Rinoa as he said, "The most beautiful fruit for the most beautiful woman."

Rinoa held it gently, and was about to take a bite from the fruit. But to her and everyone else's horror, the fruit immediately rotted away into nothing, and to make things worse as Squall turned to look, the tree itself rotted and began to die, until eventually, it sank into the ground and disappeared from sight. No one could believe it. The Tree of Renewal, their only hope in turning Rinoa back into a human, had rotted away before their eyes.

"W-What just happened!?" Mickey cried out in disbelief.

"Where'd the tree go?" Ven asked, dismayed.

"It can't be...!" Aqua gasped in horror, holding a hand in front of her mouth.

"I'm stuck like this...for the rest of my life." Rinoa sobbed, her hopes crushed instantly.

"Insolant fools." A very creepy and evil, yet very familiar voice spoke through laughter.

When the group looked just ahead of them, near another tree, was a familiar Sorceress whom they haven't seen in a year, the same one who nearly killed their friend Lucky at Radiant City. "Did you really think you could make things better easily? Life is cruel and it always will be." Ultimecia grinned.

"Ultimecia!" Terra grunted, angrily.

"So it was you!" Ven added, just as furious.

"Wait a minute!" Mickey exclaimed, angrily. "YOU'RE the lady who gave Rinoa the lotion, ya' evil witch!" as he recongised the voice. It made sense that this had been a trap and a trick all this time.

Genie, furious, growled at Ultimecia, "Lady...I'm taking you out, and I'm not talking dinner and a movie!" flying up to fight her, only for Ultimecia to snap her fingers, and instantly, her magic covered him, and Genie collasped onto the ground in several sticky pieces in a pile. His hand caught his head as he glared at her.

"Seriously, you're fully sick!" Lea growled angrily at the evil woman.

"Oh I know, little boy." Ultimecia grinned, chuckling.

Squall, furious, growled as he attempted to attack Ultimeca, but Rinoa held him back as she was worried that he would only get himself killed. Despite wanting to rip Ultimecia into several pieces himself, he wisely backed off, after realising that he would end up dead before he could even attack the Sorceress.

"A wise choice not to attack me, boy." Ultimecia chuckled, before questioning as she had triumpthed over the students of Radiant Academy, "Tell me, Squall. Do you still love Rinoa, knowing that she will never be human ever again?"

Rinoa's heart wrenched at these words. It was true. How could she be loved again if she was going to remain a Naga for the rest of her life? Her biggest mistake was that she'd been naive, gullible and easily tricked. And now it costed her entire life, her friends, her family, and her lover. It was best that she was left all alone forever.

"Don't listen to her." Squall told Rinoa firmly, already making up his mind. "I'll never leave you."

"No, she's right." Rinoa shook her head, "Look at me. What kind of life can we have together like this? I can't even touch you, or you could die."

"Rinoa...!" Squall shook his head. He didn't want to leave her. He couldn't. Naga or not, he loved her more than anything.

"Go back to Radiant City, Squall. It's the only way." Rinoa told him, slithering away in saddness in guilt, preparing to spend the rest of her days here alone, unloved and without anyone to give her comfort. Her days in Radiant Academy were over.

"Squall, we'll bring her back." Terra whispered to his friend.

Squall sighed, realising that in order to stay with his lover, there was only one choice left. As much as it irked him to admit it, he wasn't going to leave her behind. If he had to make a sacrifice, he'd be more than willing to do so. This he knew now. So, with a shake of his head, he told his friends, "No, guys. It's a long trip back to Radiant City. You should get going. I'm staying with Rinoa."

To everyone's shock, especially both Ultimecia's fury, and Rinoa's dismay, Squall poured the last of the lotion onto his head, allowing the pink liquid to seep into his skin, and immediately, he felt the stinging sensation of his own transformation. Faster than what had happened to Rinoa, as all of the lotion was now gone, an empty bottle left behind, Squall had now turned into a Naga himself, most of his body scaly brown and black, though his short hair remained the same. No one could believe what just happened. Squall had sacrificed his humanity to turn into a Naga himself, all to stay with Rinoa.

"Squall! But why?" Rinoa cried out, dismayed.

"If we can't be together as humans, then we'll be together as Nagas." Squall told her, slithering over to Rinoa. "I'll never leave Rinoa, because I love you."

"Squall...Rinoa..." Ven whispered, unable to believe what just happened.

Ultimecia, in horrified fury, shook her head in dismay as she shrieked, "It cannot be! Love is weak! WEAK!" before teleporting herself away back into her realm which she had kept herself in from the world ever since last year's events. "WHY!? Why did this happen!? _Why_ did love triumph over such adversity?"

"Love is ever triumphant, Ultimecia." Yen Sid's voice spoke above her. When Ultimecia looked up to see him standing on a broken stone piller, he continued sternly at the Sorceress, "Squall and Rinoa had proved that your hate is no match for their love."

"Even so, those fools will face their end, and those two will suffer forever." Ultimecia declared as she glared at the sphere which showed Squall and Rinoa holding hands.

"No, they won't." Yen Sid told her, "You lost. There's no need for them to pay for your defeat. You leave me with no other choice."

With the wave of his hand, Yen Sid blasted magic at Ultimecia who for the first time in her life, due to her loss the second time around, was unable to defend herself and as she screamed while her arch enemy turned her into stone for all eternity, he didn't stop, as he also casted magic to the mortal world.

* * *

Unaware of Yen Sid's magic, Ven and everyone else noticed, to their surprise and great relief, the Tree of Renewal was regrowing back to normal, glowing in light until it returned to it's former glory. Suddenly things were alright. Their hope to have Rinoa and Squall return to their human form, was back. Immediately, Goofy plucked the regrown and fresh pink fruit from the tree and gave to Rinoa who took a bite from the juicy and sweet fruit, before giving it to Squall who took a bite from it as well. A few seconds later, the fruit's magic worked and instantly, the two lovers morphed back into their normal human-selves, much to everyone's relief.

Iago, seeing how the magic of the fruit worked, asked to Mushu curiously, "You think that fruit could make my beak a little smaller?"

"Nah, not in a million years." Mushu shook his head.

While Squall and Rinoa embraced lovingly, relieved to be together and being able to return home with their friends, the others smiled in relief until something caught Mickey's eye from the tree where Ultimecia had appeared at moments before. Something was twinkling slightly behind the root of the tree. Curiousity getting to him, Mickey walked towards it to investigate which got everyone else's attentions.

When he leaned over to get a closer look, his eyes widened as there was some kind of shiny crystal-like rock, purple and beautiful and more than anything...it was glowing in light, and it had some kind of writing on it. It resembled to the writing found on the two other items they found. "Oh my gosh!" Mickey exclaimed, realising what it is.

"What is it?" Aqua asked, curiously.

Mickey picked up the stone and showed it to his friends with a smile of hope, "Fellas, we found it! The Glowing Stone!"

Genie examined it carefully, before smiling as he said, "Yeeep, it's the Glowing Stone alright. Good spotting, Mickey!"

"I guess coming here really was a good idea afterall." Ven said.

They had found the final piece in means of stopping Chernabog incase he would return. However, as everyone made their way back to Radiant City to now figure out where or when the giant monster would awaken and who would be responsible so that they could stop them, just because they had the items, that didn't mean things would go according to plan.

* * *

When Hades had found out about what happened and despite giving Pain and Panic some burns, he wasn't as angry as they thought he would be. Instead, he seemed rather calm about the entire situation.

"Okay, so those kids managed to survive again. But hey, still got Plan-Beta." Hades declared smoothly. He chuckled evilly as he turned around, grinning, "And what better way to get aid, then make a little threat unless they do as I say?"

Through a sphere of green fire, Hades, Pain and Panic eying on rather two or three people who were completely unaware of what was yet to come. Familiar young adults who would be the keys for Hades' plan to be put into motion once and for all.

The Lord of the Dead was eying a large humaniod fat cat, a teenaged boy with black spiky hair, and finally...an old man with two other olderish men who were younger than him, all of them soon to do something that would doom the world to Chernabog.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

 **A/N: Finally managed to get this chapter done. Sorry for the delay, and I think it'll be slow updates for a while for me to get back into my full game of writing. In the meantime, see you in the next exciting episode that would be the first part of the final battle as soon as possible!**


	20. Episode 20: Rise of Chernabog-P1

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Took a while to come up the idea on how the first part of the final battle would play out, but well, here's episode 20, the beginning of the end. BWAHAHAHA!...okay, that's a little dramatic, but, ya' know. *Shrugs***

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 20: Rise of Chernabog-P1.

It was eerie and quiet in Radiant Academy late at night. The tension and axienty was steadily becoming worse as the awakening of the evil demon monster of Bald Mountain, Chernabog, was nearing and the more that seemed the come, the less time everyone was feeling as no one had any idea when the exact date it would be. It was worse than those doomsday movies, because unlike those films, nobody had any idea how much time they had left.

The three aqquired items that were needed to be used in order to defeat him, the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone, were stored safely away in the storage room as everyone feared that someone might steal them should the items be held by the students who found it or by ShinRa. Just for a safety measure, though, an extra security was installed thanks to a certain someone.

But the doors of the storage room creaked open in the darkness of the late night, and a large fat figure tip-toed silently towards the items, passing by other things that were stored away. The figure was dressed in full black, a mask covering his face save for his eyes. His eyes gazed at the items and smirked evilly behind his mask. As he didn't believe in the calamity that was going to happen soon, he cared more about stealing the items and making himself rich.

No one was going to even notice that he was here. Too bad he didn't notice the perfect booby trap that would prevent him from stealing the items, though.

As he made to first touch the Glowing Stone as it was the easiest thing to grab hold off first, the moment he picked it up, it triggered the alarm and in confusion, he looked up which made his mask become loose, revealing that it was none other than Pete. To Pete's shock, a large square cage came falling from the ceiling and he narrowly escaped before he was caught, but he ended up putting the stone back in it's resting place, the item along with the other two items now within the cage. To make things worse, the alarm went off as red lights flashed in the room as the security alarm blared.

In panic, Pete's only option was to retreat and made a run for it back to where he came from before he was caught. But he didn't see the trap door that opened beneath him, and he fell in, though he leaped back out, shrieking as he narrowly avoided the crocodile that was in the water(and surprisingly had an alarm clock in it's stomach that was tick-tocking), but as the trap door closed, Pete's foot got stuck. As he pulled it free, Pete stumbled back only to get caught in another trap that strapped him and brings him to the floor. He screamed as a massive axe came parreling down towards him. He ducked his head as down as he could, and thankfully still had his head and ears, but the top of his head was scrapped, leaving him a shaved head.

The trap then released him and as Pete stood up, he ran his fingers through his scalp and only made bald patch. He then screamed again as flying knives then came at him and he had to dodge them clumsily before running again, nearing the exit as fast as he could. His eyes widened as the final trap came; a giant mace that swung towards him. It missed Pete, but it caught his pants, ripping it off completely and leaving him in nothing but his shirt and boxer shorts with heart shapes on it. Finally he made it and made a hasty retreat back into his room before anyone could even see that it was him who was the intruder.

Minutes later, the Academy's guards, Dilan and Aeleus, came running into the room to see what just happened. The two tall men grunted as while nothing was stolen, there was no one here. "The thief got away clean." Aeleus sighed.

Dilan suddenly smirked as he saw the pair of pants that was hanging on one of the spikes of the mace and approached it, correcting his partner in amusement, "Almost."

* * *

The next morning, the staff of the Academy were readjusting the security system Genie had magically installed after the previous night's raid. The headmasters, the teachers and Ven, Aqua, Terra, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Iago, Mushu, Minnie, Daisy, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Zack, Reno, Rude, Elena, Squall, Rinoa, Myde, Zell, Cissnei, and even the Turks were there, with concern as what had happened.

"I can't believe it. Someone tried to break into the storage room." Serah thought, gazing around.

"Who would've done something like this? This is outrageous." Claire grunted, clutching her first angrily. "It's like they knew where we put the items that we need to stop Chernabog if he wakes up from his nap."

"Indeed. This is the first time that someone had broke into the Academy." Braska nodded in agreement.

Eraqus frowned deeply as he approached the items as the cage was lifted back into it's original place, saying, "And as nothing else was stolen, the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and Glowing Stone are the only things that has our thief's interest."

"But how the hell could anyone else know about all this?" Lea asked, worriedly as he folded his arms to his chest, trying to think, before saying as a worrying thought came to mind, "You don't think...that we somehow made the slip and someone decided to take advantage against us?"

As most of his friends and his cousin glanced at each other with this in mind, Mickey thought deeply as another thought came into _his_ mind, before saying with concern, "Hmm...I'm not sure why, but I'm gettin' a feeling it's somebody we know. Or maybe it's the fella who could be the one who wake up Chernabog."

"Who could they be, though?" Aqua pointed out, "We still have no idea who would wake up Chernabog or why they would do this."

"Well, the only guy I know who would cause this much trouble is Pete. You know what he's like whenever he causes this kind of damage." Zack said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, but I don't think Pete believes that Chernabog is comin'." Goofy shrugged, though for some reason, the little voice in his mind did suggest that Pete could be the one trying to break into the storage room, and as Zack said, that black cat does cause more trouble then anything else.

Ven shook his head, pointing out, "Pete doesn't like to believe anything but himself and his own stupid thoughts. On the other hand, knowing him, he probably wants to steal the items just to get rich or something."

"Well, it is him, then he's seriously gonna get expelled big time for sure for pullin' a stunt like this." Reno shrugged, adding, "I wouldn't be surprised that it was him. This kind of thing is the Academy's last straw for Pete."

"Not to mention crossing the line." Cloud nodded with a small smirk.

"AUGH!" Suddenly one of the staff lost his grip on the rope that was pulling the cage to the ceiling and it once again encaged the three items. Then the sirens and alarm went off and the traps were once again in action.

Everyone glanced around in panic before Terra accidently bumped into Eraqus while Ven and the rest of the group ducked just in time to avoid the knives that were flying everywhere. The other staff lost their grip on fixing up the traps, and the giant mace came flying down once more. Jecht made to dodge, but while he managed to escape the mace, his coat and pants were ripped off, leaving him in his boxers which had smiley faces.

Reno was accidently knocked back by Myde who had fallen into the trap door before the larger student came leaping back out in panic. As for the redhead, he was caught by the trap of the strap and lowered to the floor. His eyes widened in horror as the axe came parrelling down towards him. Fortunately, as he was skinny, he managed to squirm down as fast as he could and narrowedly avoided in having his head sliced off, even though Lea and Rude screamed out his name while the girls covered their eyes, not wanting to look. They heard the clang, but no bones crunched or blood spewed. Or even hair being snipped off. Reno had even avoided in having a bald patch on his head because he managed to squeeze himself out enough be just fine...

Though he was more than a little shaken. The trap freed him, but Reno collasped to the ground, breathing scaredly. "Damn, that was close." He muttered, "Never thought I'd be so glad to be such a skinny little twerp." he laughed weakly.

"Sorry about that." The guilt-ridden staff member mumbled as everyone was recovering. "Lost my grip on the rope."

"At least we know what set the trap off this time." Terra shrugged, trying to lighten the mood.

"This is enough to give an old man a heart attack." Xehanort groaned, placing a hand to his chest where he felt his heart still thumping furiously at such a scare and close call.

"I think it's enough to give _anybody_ a heart attack at any age." Lea shrugged as he, Isa and Rude helped Reno to stand up.

Iago, who was glad to not have been caught in a trap for once, groaned as he moaned, "Yeah, well, it's enough to give _me_ a heart attack!"

"Anything gives you a heart attack whenever something goes wrong." Mushu pointed out with a skeptical look, earning a glare from Iago in return.

Eraqus nodded in agreement, "He has a point. After this, I'll be needing three cups of coffee and leaf tea just to calm down."

"And a day off." Ansem sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation, not to mention a near heart attack himself. Maybe it was also the axienty that was getting to him as well, especially since Chernabog could awakening either today or tomorrow for all he knew.

"This mean we get a day off?" Donald asked, hopefully.

"No." The headmasters told him directly while also gazing at Reno and Lea who both groaned at this.

"Aw, nuts." Donald pouted in disappointment.

* * *

Later that afternoon after the lessons were over for the day, Ven and his friends gathered in the Library with books in hand for a study group while trying to learn more on Chernabog, but nothing in their library had anything close to what they're trying to solve. As much as they knew what they had, none of them or anyone else helping had any kind of clue on who would be responsible in awakening Chernabog or how to stop them.

"Ugh..." Ven groaned as he rubbed his face before leaning back in his sort chair. "This is getting us nowhere. How are we supposed to know how to stop Chernabog when all we got is the items we don't even know how to use?"

"What?" Iago exclaimed, "I thought you said you knew how to use them!"

Isa rolled his eyes before correcting, "The only thing we know so far is that the items are said to create a weapon to stop Chernabog in case the sorcerer who stopped him the last time ends up failing _this_ _time_. Problem is, none of us have any clue how to use them or make this weapon."

"Not mention someone evil who is ruining Arbutus's garden will end up waking up Chernabog, but we still don't have a clue who he or she could be." Terra added.

"I was thinkin' it would be Ultimecia, but all she seemed to be focusing on was ruining Squall and Rin's relationship, which she failed miserably. So that idea of her being the one to worry about is down the toilet." Lea admitted as he had his hands behind his head.

"Kefka wouldn't do much either since he's still in jail." Cissnei reminded, referring to the bad guy who wanted to use Reynn to destroy Radiant City months back.(Back in episode 9)

"And Lyle Doofus Groot and the two pouchers are too stupid to even consider something like this. So they're off the subject list." Reno added, recalling the three bad guys who, in Lyle's case, got his girlfriend into trouble to the point of having their engagement off of and the said girlfriend marrying a jungle man who saved her. And in Max and Thor's cases, they wanted to ape-nap Ape due to his ability to speak human language with human emotions.

Then again, Ape is related to us people as all other monkeys are.

"Selene tried to keep the Golden Paiush and the Crystal Trident but we stopped her when we saved Terra, so I don't think it's her either." Melody added.

"And all those guys who wanted the treasure by using me and Mel' are off the hook in this situation too. I can't think of anybody else who we know could do something as dangerous as wakin' up the giant demon of nightmares." Lea nodded in agreement, before sighing, "So basically, we're stuck."

"What about the sorceress who turned Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort young briefly?" Aqua piped up, remembering the sorceress who had Pete help her a year ago.(As shown in Episode 10 of Life FAR from normal)

Terra shook his head, "Nah, she's stuck in that cave, remember? She can't even get out of it on her own."

"Wasn't that on the same day you guys found Genie in the Violet Wand or somethin'?" Reno asked, curiously.

"Xehanort was the one who found it, and yes it was." Ven nodded to comfirm it.

"And since Pete can't believe in all of this, I guess that rules him out too." Zack spoke up, sighing, "If it isn't anyone we know, who could it be? I'm out of ideas on how or when it's gonna even happen."

Mickey sighed, "And I tried lookin' for the same fella who told us about what would've happened to Terra for two months, but I couldn't find him anywhere." before trying and failing to hold back a yawn of exhaustion. "It doesn't help that I'm havin' these nightmares everytime I fall asleep now. It's almost like...like Chernabog is after me, specifically."

"But why you?" Cloud asked, a little worriedly.

"I'm not sure." Mickey shook his head, gulping nervously. "All I know is...the nightmares always end up with me being grabbed by his giant hand." shuddering at the very thought, and he could've sworn he could actually feel the pressure of being trapped in Chernabog's grasp.

"Gawrsh, I wish I knew what would really happen." Goofy mumbled, worriedly.

"So do we." Ven sighed.

"If only we could ask somebody who would know about all this. Someone who's watching over us and seeing almost everything from the Afterlife." Mushu mused, thinking deepily and trying to come with the answer to all of this problem.

Just then, half a second he said this, an idea came into his head as Mushu gasped in realization, causing everyone else to turn to him as he exclaimed, almost happily, "Wait a minute, that's it!"

"What's it?" Tifa asked, curiously.

"Even if this is ancient greek legend, I've learned that whenever people had doubts, they go to the Temple of Zeus in Greece to ask for advice and their problems are solved. So if we go here, we might find out how to solve this crisis!" Mushu explained.

"Really?" Ven asked, before turning to his friends and asking with a single shoulder shrug, "Ring any bells?"

"I do recall the history books saying that Hercules went there and that's how he found out where he actually came from." Isa mentioned, having thought of it even before Ven asked him and the others.

"Are you guys cracked?" Iago exclaimed, "This is the statue of the King of all Gods we're talkin' about here! I've heard about this guy! Legend has it that he likes to got into the giant statue of his in the temple which comes alive in rare occasions!"

He then went dramatic as he covered his eyes, crying out in despair, "He'll eat us alive in there!"

"Uh, now that ya' mention it." Reno began, rather hesitatedly. "This is the guy who uses Thunder Bolts as his main weapons to fight off his enemies. Not to mention I kinda remember readin' up about what you just said and I always get freaked out even by just thinking about it."

"Yeah, Mr. Thunder Bolt, who can also turn into a giant!" Iago continued, making an X-Cut motion as he glared up at the others, "There's no way we're goin' in there!"

"I think I'd rather face Zeus' statue then face Chernabog, actually." Lea commented, after quickly thinking about it. "Besides, if Mushu's right, then I'm more than willin' to take my chances to go to Greece and ask the guy for a little info or two."

"Give me a break." Donald said, incrediously. "All of this sounds like a big hooey. How can Zeus's statue help us when it's just a statue!?"

"Famous last words." Cloud and Zack both chorused knowingly.

"Welp, the only way to find out is head over to the Temple and see for ourselves. If the legend is true, then we could be on the right track." Mickey said, becoming determined. "All we gotta do is fly over to Greece and find go look."

"With everything we've been through, I'm willing to believe it." Terra nodded in agreement.

When almost everyone nodded nodded in agreement, Iago rolled his eyes and groaned in exasperation to himself, "Ugh, great. Trust the dragon to come up with a stupid and dangerous idea."

* * *

After Ven and the others told the Headmasters on why they figured out, they were thankfully given permission to head over to Greece via Genie's help as well as Reddy since taking an Airplane and/or waiting for ShinRa's executive helicopters would be wasting more precious time. Ven, Aqua, Terra, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, along with Mushu and the reluctanted Iago would venture to the Temple of Zeus, while everyone else stayed behind to keep an eye on things and to call them in case Chernabog woke up.

While this was happening, however, in the streets of Radiant Garden, Vanitas was taking a stroll on his way home, left to his own thoughts. Every once and a while, he's been hearing rumors of the awakening of some monster named Chernabog for the past few months. But like Pete, Vanitas didn't believe in this at all.

"Geez, I bet this Chernabog thing is a major hoax or some new movie plot coming out that's happening." Vanitas said to himself as he rolled his eyes at the very thought. Still, he couldn't stop the nagging feeling that this wasn't a hoax or a rumor at all.

Plus, why else would Radiant Academy go find items like the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident or the Glowing Stone and keep them instead of handing them out to the Museums? Something weird was going on, and Vanitas found himself curious on whether the rumors were true or not, despite saying otherwise. In his school, he read up a little bit about the Night of Bald Mountain, but always thought, even in his childhood, that the whole thing was just some halloween story to scare people.

Just then, the street-lamps went out and everything turned back, causing Vanitas to stop in his tracks before an unfamiliar voice spoke above him, "Jeez louise. Such a loner there, huh?"

"What?" Vanitas asked, looking up to see a familiar...person he gathered, casually resting on the roof of a fruit stand.

It was Hades who then leaped off with a back-flip and landed in front of Vanitas, standing before introducing himself to the teenager, "Baboom. Name is Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how ya doin'?"

"Hades? The Hades? The guy who got defeated by Hercules like in the history texts?" Vanitas asked.

"That's me." Hades grinned.

There was a moment of pause, before Vanitas shrugged and turned to walk away, saying, "Nice try, but it's not Halloween yet and I'm not a believer in ghost stories." only to jump startled when Hades reappeared in front of him.

"Hey, hey, I only need a few seconds, and I'm a fast talker, right? See, I've got this major deal in the works...a real estate venture, if you will." Hades told the teenaged young man, smoothly. "And you're not the only guy I'll be asking for, shall we say, a little bit of help in awakening something that I've been looking for, for a long time."

"You're a joke." Vanitas snorted.

"Hear me out, ya little-" Hades grunted angrily before quickly calming down and said again, this time more calmly and back to his smooth self, "Just-hear me out, okay? So I would be...eternally grateful if you would just...help me bring about the mother of all nightmares. You won't be alone in this."

Vanitas suddenly felt coldness drop into his stomach, hoping against hope that this wasn't what he thought it was. So, immediately he shook his head and told him bluntly, while having a little bit of trouble to keep down his dreaded thought, "Not interested."

But Hades had another idea as he knew how to get Vanitas to join him, saying, evilly this time, "Not so fast, because, ya see...I do have a little leverage you might wanna know about."

With a snap of his fingers, Hades managed to mentally kidnap little Roxas, little Xion, and little Namine all appeared suddenly, looking around and wondering what was going on. The three young children became scared quickly and looked to see Vanitas who's eyes widened in horror and disbelief on what just happened. Before he could even consider if this was real or not, Hades then trapped the children in a make-shift cage.

"Roxas! Xion! Namine!" Vanitas cried out, before turning to glare at Hades angrily, demanding, "Let them go!"

"Here's the trade-off, kid." Hades began, smirking and ignoring the demand. "You and two others help me find and wake up who I want to find, and these brats will be safe from any harm. We dance, we play, we read bedtime stories, we carry on, we go home happy. What d'ya say? C'mon."

Vanitas hesitated, feeling at loss for the first time in his life. He then asked, "...People aren't...going to get hurt or killed, are they?"

"Nah!" Hades replied, before admitting, "I mean, you know, it's a possibility. It happens 'cause, y'know, it's war-but what can I tell ya?"

He then went over to the trapped children who shivered in fear, as he continued to Vanitas, "Anyway, what do you owe these people, huh? Aren't these three munchkins-little cutie faces-aren't they more important than the rest of the world are?"

"STOP!" Vanitas yelled.

"Aren't they?" Hades questioned again.

Despite the guilt he was feeling that would put many people's lives at risk, at the moment, in Vanitas's mind, the lives of the children he'd been responsible to look after are more important to him, saying hesitatedly, "You have to swear the kids are safe from any harm. That includes other kids around their age too."

"Fine, okay, I'll give ya that one." Hades sighed, moving away from the children and back up to Vanitas, concluding, "The preschoolers are safe, otherwise, the world will be safe, and you get to break away from me, yadda-yadda, fine print, boiler plate, baboom. Okay? We're done. What d'ya say we shake on it?"

Vanitas hesitated. Was he making the right decision or the biggest mistake in his life? In retrospect, this was definately the biggest mistake of his life, but at the moment, the lives of the small children mattered to him. But what if it didn't make much of a difference? What if Hades still put them in danger no matter what? How can Vanitas protect them either way?

"Hey, I really don't have, like, time to bat this around." Hades warned, grunting as he continued, "I'm kind of on a schedule here, I got plans for August, okay? I need an answer, like, now." counting down to time-limit Vanitas's decision. "Going once, going twice..."

Looking back at the children who shuddered, Vanitas shut his eyes before finally making up his mind and grunted, "Fine!" taking hold of Hades's hand in a shake, sealing the deal.

"Yes, we're there!" Hades smiled evilly and as soon as he took hold of Vanitas' hand, not only both of them disappeared in smoke, but as part of his bargain, Roxas, Xion and Namine were teleported back home, the children screaming out to Vanitas, but it was already too late.

One helper down, two to go, Hades mentally counted to himself. Things were starting to come along nicely.

* * *

Meanwhile, having made it to Greece, and fully unaware of what was happening in Radiant City, Ven and his group stopped in front of a dry and wasteland like forest which, given flight wasn't allowed as Genie pointed out, entered the forest to continue their way to the Temple on foot. Everything about the area was just...very creepy.

"Don't tell me we're going in there." Iago whimpered, perching himself onto Aqua's shoulders and trying to hide behind her as much as possible.

"Yeah, we're goin' in there." Isa smirked, unable to help himself.

Iago glared at the blue-haired boy, "I asked you not to tell me that!"

"No one would've told ya if you kept your cakehole shut." Lea pointed out with a grin.

The group continued on, every once and a while glancing around in case there was an ambush waiting for them. They suddenly stopped when in front of him, a shadow of a giant bird appeared in front of them. Iago, Mushu, Goofy and Donald screamed in horror, until Mickey flashed a flash-light and found that the bird's shadow was just enlarged by the setting sunlight, because a lone crow, normal sized, was perched on a branch above them, making the others sigh in relief.

"It's okay. It was just a crow." Mickey ensured, as he and his friends continued on once more, "Nothing's giant around here."

"Good...then call me a non-giant doctor." Mushu said, dizzily.

"I think we're almost there. According to the map, it'll be another three miles from where we are." Terra calculated as he pulled out a map to see how much further they had to go before reaching the Temple of Zeus.

"Do you really think we'll be able to find the answers we're looking for?" Aqua asked, feeling a little bit of doubt, before admitting, "I can't help but feel like something's happening back home."

"Oh look. The others would tell us." Genie said to try and make the mood light. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Mickey suddenly gulped nervously, asking hesitatedly, "Um, the fella could wake up Chernabog now for all we now?"

"Okay, what's the second worst thing that could happen?" Lea asked this time, starting to worry quickly.

Goofy shivered scaredly, asking, "All of the items being stolen behind everybody's backs?"

"I'm sure Cloud and the others would tell us if that happened." Ven replied, though he couldn't help but feel something bad really was happening back in Radiant Garden right now and he didn't know what it could be.

Finally, unable to handle his fair any longer, Iago took flight to find the nearest exit to get this nightmare over with, "That's it! I'll go talk to Zeus myself so we can get the heck outta here!" flying forward...

Only to be stopped by a sudden appearence of a three-headed lion(summoned by Hades, mind you) which roared dangerously. Iago hovered in the air, gulping scaredly as he whimpered in a high-pitched tone, "Nothin's ever easy, is it?"

* * *

Back at the Academy, Pete was once again sneaking through the halls, first tip-towing, then skittering while sliding by the wall, pausing near a table with three vases of flowers. As he made to walk past, due to him being large, he accidently knocked into them, and hurriedly tried to get them not to fall. But due to his panic, he instead flinged them into the air and then they fell, braking the vases which made crashing noises that anyone would've have heard.

With this happening, Pete made hasty retreat towards his destination before anyone would see that he'd broke the vases. Besides, he had other things that were more imporant in his plot of trouble right now.

Sighing in relief as he made it out of sight, Pete then smirked evilly as he found what he was looking for. In front of him was a door that powered the electricity of the Academy. He snickered silently to himself before rubbing his hands together and whispered to himself, "After I turn the electricity off, I'll be able to get my hands on those items and become filthy rich."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cloud, Zack, Tifa, Aerith, Reno and Rude were outside in the training fields as they were heading back inside after some bit of training and conversation. Reno though, was a nervous wreck as he couldn't shake off the bad feeling that was in his gut all day ever since the previous night's near-theft.

"I'm worried. What if the Temple won't be the answer and we're still stuck?" Aerith said, concerned.

"I'm more worried about the others than the temple." Reno admitted.

"I'm sure they're fine. It's Chernabog I'm worried about." Cloud said, though deep down, like both Aerith and Reno, he couldn't stop the bad feeling that something was going horribly wrong, in more ways than just one.

"Yeah, no kidding." Zack nodded in agreement.

Too bad the moment he said this, the lights from the windows of the Academy all went out, causing the six of them to pause beflre glancing at each other worriedly. Now all of them sensing that something went wrong here, Zack and the others quickly made a dash to enter the building to see what cut the power off and who was responsible. But since it was already dark and the lights were out, none of them or anyone else inside the school could see anything unless they had flash-lights to navigate their way.

Pete in the meantime, snuck his way towards the storage room, only to be stopped halfway when suddenly, he cried out in fright when his flash-light caught sight of Hades who cried out in surprise when the flash-light hit his eyes as the Lord of the Dead groaned, "Ugh! Did you have to aim that thing at my eyes!?"

"W-who're you!?" Pete asked, shaking at the fact that the guy in front of him not only looked scary due to his teeth, but also at the fact that the guy's hair was _literally_ blue fire.

"Names Hades, Lord of Dead, god of Underworld, yadda yadda, how're you doin'?" Hades introduced himself, before saying, "I've got a little thing to ask you, and if you help me, I'll give you wadges that is worth more than some lousy items that are absolutely useless."

"Uh...okay?" Pete muttered.

What Pete did here only made things worse for everyone else.

* * *

 _Back with Ven and the others..._

Ven and his friends were backing away slowly as the three-headed Lion advanced on them, with Lea saying scaredly, "I don't know about you guys, but I think somebody's trying to stop us from stopping Chernabog."

"Let's see if we can reason with it." Genie told the others with caution.

Iago was shivering and quivering in fear that he couldn't even speak at first, terrified at the thought of being eaten, before deciding to try and take up Genie's advice, cooing in a high-pitched and terrified voice, "Nice kitty! Pretty kitty!"

But it didn't seem to work, as the right head breathed fire at Ven, Isa, Goofy, Genie and Mushu, while the left head growled before whipping it's snake-like tongue at Lea, Aqua, Terra, Mickey and Donald who jumped and dodged out of the way before it could grab them. The middle one on the other hand, glared at Iago who did his best to cover himself, but all the middle head did was speak in a very low and warning voice, " _ **None shall pass.**_ "

When he realised that he was okay, Iago sighed in relief, wiping sweat from his forehead at the close call, "Whew! My head just talks." which given circumstances, if the situation wasn't so serious, people would've stared at him as though he's gone completely crazy.

Mushu tried to blast fire of his own to combat with the left-head's fire, but the latter's was too much for him and the small dragon cried out in alarm before Isa and Goofy pulled him out of the way before any of them could become crisp. Too bad Genie was in the firing line as he was covered in flames before turning himself into a large barbequed sasuage, groaning raspedly, "Mmm, hickory smoked goodness." before falling backwards.

"AAHHH!" Aqua screamed as the left-head's tongue wrapped itself around her waist and began to drag her towards it's mouth. "Let me go!"

"Aqua!" The others cried out in alarm, as Ven, Terra, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Mushu quickly grabbed hold of their friend's arm, but to their horror, they were pulled along with her and they cried out as they were about to be sucked into the mouth as well.

"We're gonna get eaten at this rate!" Lea panicked.

"We're about to become cat-food!" Goofy wailed, tears pouring out of his eyes like water-works.

"Genie!" Ven cried out hysterically.

"Do something!" Mickey added hysterically.

Thankfully, Genie recovered quickly as he now magically wore a Boy Scout uniform and grabbed hold of the tongue, causing it to release Aqua before she and the others were spun backwards towards safety, while the magical blue being saluted, "Be prepared!"

But as Genie tied the tongue to a tree, the three headed Lion, due to also having wings on it's back, took flight as it then also pulled the tree from it's roots before the left-head sucked in and ate it, much to everyone's shock and confusion. But they didn't have time to question it as it then flew down and knocked Ven and the others aside as they cried out before landing on the ground hard, while Genie was being chased all around in circles by the lion who chased after him by foot and not flight.

But then the Lion stopped after realising that the chase was a waste of time, but Genie, unaware of this, just continued to run around and around in circles, much to his friends' embarrassment. Deciding to end this now and then, the lion then swatted Genie with it's tail, knocking him away and nearly onto Ven and the others who moved out of the way just in time, but were trapped in a corner as the lion then flew up before decending to finish off the group once and for all. Realising that there wasn't anything they could do, the group shut their eyes and most of them held onto each other to brace themselves.

Fortunately, Genie recovered and turned himself into a Puritan, causing the lion to stop in shock as he yelled at it, "Halt, foul lion!" then he magically created a three-headed stockade, locking it's three heads into it and rendering it helpless as he concluded, "Recant thy evil ways!"

Everyone else sighed in relief, as Lea collasped onto his back, panting, "That was a close one."

"You okay, Aqua?" Terra asked as he held his girlfriend close to him.

"I-I'm fine." Aqua nodded, somewhat shakily.

Mickey collasped onto his front, sighing, "Well, at least everybody's okay."

"Thanks, Genie." Ven sighed, panting a little as well. He then stood up and told his friends, "C'mon. We gotta get to the Temple quickly. I've got a bad feeling that time is running out very quickly."

"And _I've_ got a bad feeling that the Zeus statue is gonna eat us!" Iago protested, holding his arms/wings to his chest, stubbornly staying on the ground and refused to move.

"Oh, for Shiva's sake. It's a statue, not a real giant." Isa rolled his eyes in annoyance.

* * *

 _Back at Radiant Academy..._

"Ow!" Reno grunted as he suddenly found himself chained against the wall in the hallway by smoke that was surprisingly painful, and even as he tried to pull himself free, the smoke-chains only tightened their grip on him.

He wasn't alone in this. When Reno and the others met up with the Headmasters, teachers and all other students since whenever the power gets cut off, it's under the rules that everyone should meet in the Headmasters' office until the power came back on. So you could imagine their shock when Hades appeared with Pete, and Vanitas who was guilt-ridden in this situation, and when Ansem demanded what was going on, Hades instead trapped him and everyone else except for Xehanort onto the wall, and trapping the younger students like little Sora, little Riku, little Kairi, little Yuffie, young Tidus, young Yuna, and other children around their age in cages, much to their horror.

"What in the world's name are you doing?" Xehanort demanded angrily.

"Just doing what I need to be done." Hades grinned evilly. "See, here's the gig, old man. I'm lookin' for the mother of all nightmares to rule all over and take Mt. Olympus, yadda yadda, but I need help in locating the place where he could be. Sure I've got these two guys helping out, but I just need one more little helper."

"And why should I agree to this?"

"'Cause if you don't...then your fellow bosses of this school and every single student get a nice free trip to the Underworld." Hades warned evilly, snapping his fingers again.

This time a green portal opened up underneath the trapped students, teachers and other two headmasters, who all cried out in alarm as beneath them, was a swirling vortex that looked like a green deadly river, with many souls of the dead slowly decending and disappearing into the abyss below. Their stomachs dropped at the mere sight of it.

"H-hey!" Reno cried out, "You're seriously not gonna kill us, are you? No offence, but I'd like to live to see my next birthday."

"Weeeeelll, if Mister Xehanorty here doesn't go along with me, then yeah, you're invited to spend eternity right in there, red-head." Hades grinned.

"So you're the one who's gonna free Chernabog." Cloud grunted, angrily. "If you do that, then we'll still die!"

"Nah! I'll spare a few lives, meaning yours." Hades shrugged, "Besides which, guarding the Underworld and seeing nothing but dead people 24 hours a day and 7 days a week is dull and uncoth. Do you realise how boring it is?"

"Xehanort, don't listen to him!" Eraqus protested, only to have his and everyone else's mouths covered up by more smoke by Hades so that Xehanort wouldn't be able to listen to them.

Xehanort in the meantime, like Vanitas earlier, was torn between risking the lives of the students and teachers, Eraqus and Ansem, and risking the lives of many people in the world. Unfortunately, to everyone else's dismay and Hades' pleasure, he sighed in defeat and said, "You must swear that you will spare the lives of my students, teachers and fellow headmasters, and I mean all of my students."

"I will if you agree to help me find Chernabog. So, going once, going twice..." Hades counted down.

Despite the muffles of protests, Xehanort shut his eyes, before casting an apologetic glance at the dismayed trapped group before turning to Hades and declared, "Very well, Lord Hades." shaking hands with Hades who grinned evilly.

* * *

In order to make sure no one gets in his way right now, Hades had Ansem and the others locked up in the storage room with the items and kept them in the dark, while Hades himself, along with Pete, Vanitas and Xehanort, went outside of the Academy.

"So, you three lead me to Bald Mountain and such, got it?" Hades said to his three new allies who all nodded, with Vanitas and Xehanort sorrowed for their actions, and it was all because they had no choice but to obey. Pete on the other hand, was torn but decided to see what happens in this situation.

"Great! Now, gotta blaze." Hades announced as he created a black chariot with a black dragon with reins, continuing, "There's an entire cosmos and world waiting for me with, hey, my name on it."

As the four of them, along with Pain and Panic, claimed in, the dragon took off with them in the chariot as Hades declared, "So much for Graduation, and now _onto the main event!_ "

* * *

No matter what they did, none of them could even break down the door. They were all locked in completely. The small children by now were crying and Serah, Elena, Tifa, Aerith, Rinoa, Reynn and Garnet were doing their best to calm them down.

"This is bad! This is really, _really_ , _bad_!" Zack grunted, pacing back and forth.

"Oh, what do we do now!?" Minnie cried out, panicking herself.

"Our only hope lies in Ventus and the others now." Ansem sighed in defeat.

"But sir, we're stuck in here with the items and none of us have any clue how to use them!" Lann pointed out, worriedly.

Reno, who managed to keep his PHS handy, turned to the two headmasters and requested, "Permission to call Tseng and tell him what's going on."

"Affirmitive, Reno. Hurry!" Eraqus answered.

The redhead immediately dialed his future mentor's number thanks to Rude having a flash-light so that Reno could see. Despite being quick, the redhead was really nervous until finally he managed to find the phone number and dialed, waiting for the Wutaiian Turk to answer.

Tseng answered after two rings.

" _Tseng speaking._ "

"Uh, boss?" Reno began, "We uh...we've got a major problem."

* * *

With three knowlages mixed in, it didn't take them long to find Bald Mountain which was in the Northern Region close to the region where Radiant Academy was. Finally, as the sun began to set, Hades grinned evilly as the mountain itself glowed red and green, the seal that trapped the evil Chernabog for eons beginning to crack open. For safety measures, he had Vanitas and Xehanort tied up in smoke chains as well, which also gagged them.

"Brother! Chernabog!" Hades hollered down to the mother of all nightmares. "Look at you and your squalid prison!"

Pete, Pain and Panic quivered in fear at how terrifying and large Chernabog was and ducked behind the railing of the chariot, whimpering in fear with wide eyes, while Hades continued, "Who put you in there!?"

" _ **Yen Sid!**_ " Chernabog replied in the most monsterous voice ever heard of.

"And now that I set you free!" Hades began, using his fire abilities to break away the Sorcerer's spell, continuing to Chernabog, "What is the first thing you are going to do?"

Chernabog punched the rest of the way out, thankful for being released at long last, before declaring, " _ **Destroy him!**_ " as dead souls and ghouls appeared, also free.

Hades smiled evilly, "Good answer."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ven and his group finally made it to the Temple and were about to step inside when Mickey suddenly felt an unusual coldness wave all over his body, making him shudder in fear, whimper and hug himself. The moment he closed his eyes, he was struck by a vision of some sorts, unaware that darkness had claimed him at the same time and didn't know what happened to him after that.

* * *

 _The image of Chernabog, gazing evilly down at him, and reaching out towards him. Mickey couldn't escape, he couldn't move. He was frozen in fear. The giant monster grasped him at long last and held him tightly. Mickey screamed as he tried to squirm out of the massive demon's clawed hands._

 _"Let me go!" Mickey cried out, before gasping in horror as Chernabog raised him towards it's mouth, raising him high so that Chernabog could, to Mickey's horror, swallow him up. His heart stopped for a moment, tears forming in his eyes, as Mickey knew that this was it; the end._

 _"NO! NO!" Mickey pleaded, before he was released, but he fell, screaming as he was about to land right into Chernabog's mouth..._

* * *

"Mickey! MICKEY!" Ven screamed out, shaking his paralyzed friend who had collasped onto the ground, half-unconscious and whimpering in the sudden strucked vision that caused Mickey to lose consciousness.

"Wake up, man!" Lea cried out, before groaning loudly, "For Ifrit's _sake_ , Mick'! Wake up!" going into measures as to slap him repeatedly to get him to wake up.

That did the trick, as Mickey woke up screaming, jolting upright before panting quickly, covered in sweat, eyes wide in fear and his heart hammering rapidly in his chest as though it would explode like a time-bomb. As Aqua held him gently, Mickey realised that she and everyone else knelt around him, with concerned expressions on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Goofy asked.

"Does he look okay to you?" Mushu pointed out, half-worried to death, half-annoyed. "Poor kid nearly had a heart attack!"

"What happened?" Terra asked to Mickey who calmed down enough to slow his panting and breathing.

Mickey, taking a gulp of air to calm his nervous, began, parchly, "I-It was Chernabog. I-I don't know why the nightmare hit me out of nowhere, but he...he caught me...and he...he was swallowing me up!"

"Whoa." Lea muttered, now very worried. "No wonder you were screamin'."

"But, why did it suddenly happen now?" Ven asked, worriedly.

That was when Mickey's heart froze in fear and he gasped, realization and horror dawning on his face, as though he suddenly figured it out. "This never happened before...then that means..." he then cried out in fear, "Chernabog's awake!"

The moment the words escaped his lips, the sky suddenly turned darker than usual, dark clouds forming over the landscape over not just Greece, but quickly all over the world, as many other people, including ShinRa, and especially in Radiant City, gazed up in awe and horror, and those who were told by Chernabog's awakening realised this could only mean one thing.

* * *

Even Yen Sid, who appeared when he sensed this, arrived on the hill of Radiant City and his eyes widened in horror and shock, as he muttered in realization on what was happening.

"Chernabog has been released!" Yen Sid muttered.

* * *

As for Ven and his group, their eyes widened in horror, while Lea scaredly whispered, worried about his Cousin, "Reno...!"

"We were too late...!" Terra muttered in horror.

How can they possibly stop Chernabog and the one who released him now!? What will become of the world and our heroes of Radiant Academy!? That will have to wait until Ven and his friends and ShinRa could try and figure out how to stop this and save the world before it really was too late.

TO BE CONTINUED!

* * *

 **A/N: And so it begins! What will happen next? Found out in the next exciting episode for the conclusion that will decide the fate of the world! See you real soon!**


	21. Episode 21: Rise of Chernabog-P2

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Just so you know, this is a three parter, so prepare yourselves before we reach the final conclusion, but in the meantime, here's part two of the final battle.**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 21: Rise of Chernabog-P2.

 _Previously, on Life DEFINATELY not Normal..._

 _"Brother! Chernabog!" Hades hollered down to the mother of all nightmares. "Look at you and your squalid prison!"_

 _Pete, Pain and Panic quivered in fear at how terrifying and large Chernabog was and ducked behind the railing of the chariot, whimpering in fear with wide eyes, while Hades continued, "Who put you in there!?"_

 _"_ _ **Yen Sid!**_ _" Chernabog replied in the most monsterous voice ever heard of._

 _"And now that I set you free!" Hades began, using his fire abilities to break away the Sorcerer's spell, continuing to Chernabog, "What is the first thing you are going to do?"_

 _Chernabog punched the rest of the way out, thankful for being released at long last, before declaring, "_ _ **Destroy him!**_ _" as dead souls and ghouls appeared, also free._

 _Hades smiled evilly, "Good answer."_

 _()()()()()_

 _Mickey woke up screaming, jolting upright before panting quickly, covered in sweat, eyes wide in fear and his heart hammering rapidly in his chest as though it would explode like a time-bomb. As Aqua held him gently, Mickey realised that she and everyone else knelt around him, with concerned expressions on their faces._

 _That was when Mickey's heart froze in fear and he gasped, realization and horror dawning on his face, as though he suddenly figured it out. "This never happened before...then that means..." he then cried out in fear, "Chernabog's awake!"_

 _Lea scaredly whispered, worried about his Cousin, "Reno...!"_

 _"We were too late...!" Terra muttered in horror._

 _How can they possibly stop Chernabog and the one who released him now!? What will become of the world and our heroes of Radiant Academy!?_

* * *

At long last, Chernabog, the mother of all nightmares, the king of all demons, the terror of the world, was finally free to conjour everything with darkness. But before he can accomplish this, though, first he needed to exact his revenge on the one who imprisoned him in the first place centuries ago, the powerful Sorcerer who is the bane of his very existance, the one having been powerful enough to keep him trapped on Bald Mountain until now.

That Sorcerer was Yen Sid.

The Demon King in the meantime, unleashed his wrath on his journey towards the place where Yen Sid secretly took residence. He unleashed ghouls, ghosts, evil spirits and those cursed from the dead in their punishment for their crimes, releasing monsters unlike any had ever seen. On their way to Radiant City, Chernabog and his little minions took out other towns, crushing buildings, capturing innocent people's souls, casting flames via the Firebird, AKA: Phoenix, onto forests nearby, and cow-like demon-ghosts forming together and creating a tornado to suck and blow everything in their path. This was the beginning of the end of the world.

Chernabog and his minions continued onward to find Yen Sid and destroy him once and for all...

"Uh, guys?" Hades spoke up once he realised something. When Chernabog and the minions paused to gaze at him, the God of the Dead jerked a thumb behind him as he dryly told them, as Radiant City was actually behind him, "Radiant City would be _that_ way."

Chernabog and the minions paused, dumbfounded for a moment when they realised that Hades was right. They'd been going completely into the _**wrong**_ direction. They then roared or whatever and turned around, repeating their rampage, this time in the _**right**_ direction that would spell doom onto Radiant City. Though while they would be delayed in finding Yen Sid, that wouldn't stop Chernabog from continuing his plots to destroy the Sorcerer. Among the returned from the dead, was a giant was short red hair, blue eyes, big red nose, and wearing those medieval clothes who was heading towards Radiant City as well.

"Hold it, bright eyes." Hades spoke up, stopping the giant who turned around in confusion, as the Lord of the Underworld, having had an idea on where certain students were as he smirked evilly, "I have a special job for you, my optic friend."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Radiant Forest, Timon and Pumbaa were relaxing and fully unaware of the destruction that was happening, as the latter sighed contendedly, "Ah, this is the life, Timon. Peace and quiet, plently of grubs, and not a soul to be seen from miles around!"

"Yes, sir." Timon said in agreement, slurping from his nice cool drink of lemonade, continuing, "When it comes to nature, with no worries, no responsiblities, we do things right, Pumbaa."

Unfortunately, their peace and quiet was cut short when the two of them felt the Earth move, alerting them from their daydream. The air also suddenly gone deathly cold, the sky was going dark, slowly being covered in dark black clouds, and they could also hear unearthly roars. Turning around to see what the ruckus was about, Timon and Pumbaa's eyes widened when they saw, from the mist of the trees above them, were a giant monster along with other ghostly monsters, ghouls and ghosts, heading towards them and in all intends purposes, Radiant City.

The two didn't seem fazed at it at first, as Pumbaa turned to Timon, asking with a gracious, leisurely air, "Shall we run for our lives?"

"Oh yes, lets." Timon replied, with the same gracious leisurely air.

Half a second later...

"AHHHHHHHH!" Timon and Pumbaa both screamed hysterically and made a run for it as fast as they could away from the nightmares that attempted to either squash them, stomp them, or eat them. Or the unholy mix of all three, depending on what was actually going on in their heads.

Fortunately, Chernabog and the minions had no intention in going after them.

* * *

When Tseng got a call from Reno on what was going on, the Wutaiian Turk didn't hesitate in reporting to Veld who reported to the President of the ShinRa Company who, in response, had sent off the Turks to evacuate Radiant City and SOLDIER to defend the city itself in an epic battle to try and drive off Chernabog until Ven and his friends came back with answers in figuring out how to use the three special items and create the weapon to destroy him since no one could find the Sorcerer on time.

Tseng himself would head over to Radiant Academy to find the others with the aid of Balto so that they can evacuate the School before the building would no doubt be crushed. He was in one of the helicopters in the pilot's seat with Balto in the co-pilot's seat when their eyes widened as the sky turned dark all over the city already, and a good 100 miles away, was the towering monsterous form of Chernabog himself, eyes blazing, surrounded by corrupted souls of the dead no doubt summoned by him.

"Sweet merciful Leviathan..." Tseng whispered in shocked and horrified awe.

"...Dear Odin." Balto muttered in the same horrified awe.

In the aircraft just behind the Turks' helicopters, Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis were just in much of a shock as anyone else when they saw the monsterous form of Chernabog. Even Sephiroth couldn't hide the fact that he was horrified by something as large as that!

"Dear holy..." Sephiroth breathed.

"Oh, my, goddess." Genesis whispered.

Angeal blinked, before dryly said, "That...is a major problem." while mentally worried sick about his future students of SOLDIER who were trapped in Radiant Academy.

* * *

It came all too quickly. When the Turks and their evacuation squad came via many aircrafts, they lead many people in as much as possible, knowing that Radiant City would no doubt be devastated by the destruction Chernabog would cause. Tseng and Balto made to enter the Academy to find the Storage Room where Reno and the others were imprisoned and trapped in as Chernabog and his undead army were getting closer and closer.

In the meantime, the SOLDIER army, lead by Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis, all drew their weapons, and heck, there were even WWII Tanks for good measure to slow Chernabog down which they hoped would actually work. As the ghouls and other summoned monsters approached and Chernabog nearly towered over them, though some of the army shuddered in absolute terror at the mere sight of the giant demon, Sephiroth turned to his two friends who nodded, before thrusting out his mauseme while commanding at the Tanks and those who had bazookas, machine guns, and ect, "Fire!"

Missiles were launched at Chernabog who stumbled back in surprise, but even this wasn't enough to stop him once he saw who was attacking him in his rampage. He glared down at the miniture mortals, before snapping his fingers and silently ordered his army to attack now. The Ghouls, ghosts and ect, summoned swords and axes of their own before charging at Sephiroth and his group who stood ready for the biggest battle of their lives.

Sephiroth readied himself before rushing towards at least twenty of the undead army and with a single swing of his mauseme, he sliced them in half before they vanished out of existance, before glaring at the other thousand other undead everything who stood stunned at the man's abilities. Angeal, for once his his Buster Sword, rushed over and with a mighty swing and a battle yell, cleaved ten other Ghouls in a single hit, while Genesis leaped up and sliced away fifteen single handedly before the trio repeated their process, as their own army either shot or clashed swords as well, going into the most epic battle in history, and the WWII tanks continued to try and keep Chernabog at bay which was making the giant demon more and more furious since this was keeping him from not only destroying the city, but also finding Yen Sid.

Despite this, many of Sephiroth's army were quickly caught up the Ghouls' Tornado, leaving the men screaming as they were pulled into the vortex, and even the three 1st Class SOLDIERS were having a hard time. Sephiroth twirled around and slashed fifteen more of the undead army away, knocking them into many others. Genesis casted a powerful Flame from a fire Materia to melt the undead Goblins before blocking a bulky Ghoul in an armor's sword that was the size of a tree trunk. Angeal was having the similiar problem, before he leaped in the air and slashed it mid-air, slicing it in half from head to...uh, manly parts.

Talk about a splitting headache.

* * *

"Reno!" Tseng called out as he and Balto paused in front of the Storage Room door.

" _Tseng? That you?_ " A familiar voice, sounding panicked, called from the other side, and from the sound of things, he also sounded very relieved as well.

Immediately, the two Turks unlocked the door and wrenched open, where they found Reno, Rude, Cloud, Zack, Tifa, Aerith, and pretty much everyone else inside with the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone. Though the two men did notice the absence of eleven others, though given what Reno told him during the phone call, Tseng suspected that Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Genie, Iago and Mushu were still in Greece hoping to find answers before any of this happened. However, there was one headmaster missing, which again, Tseng suspected was with the one who released Chernabog.

"Man, am I glad to see you, boss!" Reno breathed in relief.

"There's no time! We have to leave now!" Tseng told him and everyone else firmly.

"But what about Radiant City?" Lann protested worriedly.

"Sephiroth and SOLDIER are keeping what I suspect Chernabog and his army at bay. There's an aircraft and a squad evacuating the City as we speak." Tseng replied.

"Wait, you actually saw Chernabog!?" Zack cried out, alarmed.

Ansem and Eraqus, both knowing that their hope now lies within Ven's group, nodded before turning to their guards, with Ansem ordering, "Secure the items to a place should Ventus and the others return! We need them in order to defeat Chernabog!"

"Yes, sir!" The Guards went to retrieve the items with the aid of the staff and even Jecht, while Serah, Rinoa, Elena, Minnie, Daisy, Tifa, Aerith, Selphie and Edea quickly gathered around the terrified children as Tseng and Balto lead everyone else out of the Storage Room and down the hallways to leave Radiant Academy, everyone's hearts aching at the thought of the school most likely to be destroyed by Chernabog's army.

When everyone exit the building, they and many others who were still trying to get away and were now in a fransic panic, many people screaming as they ran towards the aircrafts the escape despite the evac squad trying to keep them calm, all gazed at the sight before them, not seeing the battle, but seeing the very thing they'd been so afraid of to see since learning of it from Arbutus. They knew Chernabog was evil and huge, but the remaining students failed to realise just how big the demon was. And despite the missles being launched at him, he was still slowly making his way towards the City itself.

"Holy...!" Zack breathed in terrified awe.

"...!" Cloud was breathless from the terrifying sight before him, his friends, the teachers and the remaining headmasters who were in much of a shock as he was, the younger children shivering and whimping in absolute terror.

"Hello...!" Reno muttered, mouth hanging open in horror.

"Hell no." Rude muttered, blinking in shock behind his shades.

Without second thoughts, they continued on, hurrying the children into the air-craft along with the special items in one vessel, and Lann and Reynn both voulenteering to stay with the said items, while Cloud, Zack, Reno, and Rude voulenteered to help Tseng and Balto evacuate the remaining people who were still trying to escape. Elena wanted to help, but Tseng, fearing for her safety, ordered her to leave with the others as he didn't want her to get involved.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot above them and hit Chernabog right in the face, again causing him to stumble back. When he and those who also witnessed this turned to see where the light had come from, their eyes widened as on top of a building, as an old man with a long gray beard, blue robes and a Sorcerer's hat, glaring at the leader of the demons who sneered at him right back. It was Yen Sid himself.

"Is that...?" Selphie trailed off, in awe.

"The Sorcerer?" Tifa continued, blinking.

Yen Sid only payed attention to Chernabog as he blasted more of his magic at the monster as long as he could, also hoping that Sephiroth's army could slow Chernabog's army down. Even so, while Tseng and the others in the streets continued to evacute, it was becoming apparent that, with Chernabog repeatingly drawing more and more of the undead and ghouls and such, the ShinRa shoulders were beginning to realise that this was a losing battle.

Hades in the meantime, watching this from his chariot, cheered on at the sight before him, "Boom, badda-boom, boom, boom! HAH!" with both Vanitas and Xehanort glancing at each other guilty, knowing that it was their fault to have doomed their city and the entire world.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, back in Greece..._

The moment they saw the dark clouds forming and given to what Mickey had just sensed through a nightmare that rendered him briefly unconscious, Ven and his friends immediately rushed into the Temple of Zeus as quickly as possible on Reddy to try and solve the riddle of how to defeat Chernabog with the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone while trying to not panic as they were worried about their friends and families back in Radiant City and their home itself.

"I think this qualifies the fact that whoever brought Chernabog back was pretty smart and evil!" Iago cried out hysterically.

"Yeah and was pretty much one step ahead of us!" Mushu cried out, also hysterical. "Whoever it was certainly don't like us one bit!"

"There it is!" Genie exclaimed, pointing ahead of him and the others who all looked up to see the massive statue of the King of Gods seated at the far end of the Temple itself, unchanged in thousands of years since the time of Hercules.

"The Staue of Zeus." Terra muttered in awe.

"Man, whoever build this sure did an awesome job." Lea admitted, despite that he was very worried about Reno and pretty much everyone else at home. He hoped that Zeus would answer their prayer and that they can stop Chernabog before Radiant City is destroyed.

"I sure hope this works." Mickey muttered worriedly, "If it doesn't...then we're all doomed." shutting his eyes in both fear and guilt, while Goofy rubbed his back to try and calm him down.

Iago couldn't help but perk out, "I think this also qualifies that we're already doomed!"

No one bothered in scolding him or even telling him to shut up for once. Instead, Ven and the rest of the group stopped just in front of the statue and hopped off Reddy, before lining up side by side. They then knelt down and held their hands to their hearts...except Iago who quivered in terror before Mushu bonked him on the back of the head to concentrate, causing the parrot to repeat what his friends were doing, while mentally wishing to not get eaten by the giant statue.

"Oh mighty Zeus." Aqua began wisely, "Please...hear us and answer our prayer. We need to know. Our world is in danger by the evil Chernabog."

"Oh mighty Zeus," Mickey continued wisely, "We found special items to stop Chernabog, but we don't know how to use them, and we've searched for the Sorcerer who stopped him before, but it ended in vain."

"Please, oh Mighty Zeus." Ven continued, wisely, "What can we do? How can we stop Chernabog and save our world?" he concluded.

Silence for a moment. At first, the group feared that it wasn't even working. While Iago was relieved, he shrugged in dismay, "It didn't work. Oh well, the end is coming. We're done for." turning to walk away.

Only for a gust of winds to suddenly blow into the temple and knocking Iago into Donald who fell face first onto the temple's floor, and everyone ducked and shield themselves as a lightning bolt came through the hole in the ceiling and zapped onto the statue while igniting flames in the braziers, lighting up the entire room. When the group looked up, their eyes widened as the statue's upper body actually moved, and opened his eyes, gazing down at the stunned students, bird, dragon and genie, who were speechless beyond belief.

"Why, hello, young ones. I heard your prayers." The Staue of Zeus spoke.

"...Are you guys seeing this, or am I hallucinating?" Isa asked to his friends.

"Shh!" Goofy quickly shushed, worriedly.

"I knew it..." Mushu muttered at last. "The legend was true."

"Uh...thank you, sir." Ven spoke up as much as respect to the god before him and his friends, "My name is Ventus, and these are my friends; Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Genie, Reddy, Mushu and Iago." while his said friends nodded their respects, though they were a little terrified themselves. Iago, as usual, was quivering violently in fear as he hid behind Goofy's right leg, peaking a little to gaze at the god in statue form.

"Pleasure to meet you and your friends, Ventus." Zeus replied, before saying with a firm expression, "One of you envisioned the awakening of Chernabog that would cause destruction to your world."

While the group glanced at each other, Mickey took a step closer, admitting, "T-That's was me, sir. I didn't know it was the future until I met Arbutus underneath Radiant Academy. But the thing is, all we know from him is that we had to find the three items to create a weapon that would stop Chernabog in case the Sorcerer who made him go away can't do it this time. We've looked for him, but we couldn't find him or the fella who warned us about another encounter before we knew any of this." referring to the old man whom warned him about both the magical mirror and Maleficent.

"The Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone can only make the weapon needed to stop Chernabog by the prayers of one who's heart is pure and the love for many others. I can sense that it's one of you, but the problem is, I don't know which of you is it." Zeus explained after absorbing what Mickey had told him.

"One of us?" Lea blinked, surprised, sharing a glance with his friends, with Isa shrugging, just as confused as the redhead was.

"Well that explains why Arbutus took Mickey and told us about this in the first place." Terra thought, furrowing his brow as he thought deepily about the situation that was happening. "Only problem is, we still don't know who woke up Chernabog and how can we stop them from doing it again."

"Gee, if that's true, then maybe Mickey's the one who's supposed to stop Chernabog." Goofy thought as he came up with a theory about this.

Mickey blinked, surprised by his friend's theory, pointing at himself, a little scaredly, "Me? How can I stop Chernab-" he cut himself off as he realized quickly that it made some sort of sense. "Is that why...is that why Chernabog was chasing me in my dreams? Because I'd be the one to stop him?"

"I don't think it's you, Mickey." Ven admitted, "But at the same time, maybe we should all head back to Radiant City and see for ourselves."

"Well, first I gotta make a call to my cousin." Lea pointed out, "Knowing everyone, I'm really worried that Chernabog could be attacking Radiant City right now for all we know."

"They're right, you know." Zeus said in agreement, "It's really up to you, since I can't do anything about this. But I will help as much as I can to solve all this. I do have a feeling I know who's behind all of this, speaking from experience."

"Who?" Donald asked, curiously.

"Hades, since long ago, he released the Titans to try and destroy me."

The group glanced at each other in shock before gazing back at Zeus, with Lea asked in disbelief, "Hades? Ya' mean the same guy who Hercules defeated? The guy who's runs the Underworld?"

"The Lord of the Dead?" Aqua added, just as shocked.

Iago cringed, before muttering, "Uh oh. Hades does have a reputation of doing things that are never really good."

"I heard that Hades is a conartist and tricks a lotta people just to get his way." Isa said, worriedly. "If that's the case, then this is more dangerous than I thought."

"Then how can we stop them if the guy who freed Chernabog is somebody who's immortal?" Lea asked, worriedly.

"Well, we could try and seal him with magic." Genie suggested with a shrug.

"Oh yeah, great plan." Iago replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he continued, "Coming from somebody who couldn't even fight off a giant moth that eats imps!"

Genie shrugged, "I did stop a giant three-headed Lion, though."

"Lord Zeus, sir, how can we be certain to stop Hades and Chernabog?" Ven asked to the King of the Gods once more.

"Look inside your hearts, Ventus. Learn something for yourselves as my son, Hercules, had done to become a True Hero. I'm afraid I cannot help you any further than this. The rest lies in your hands now. Believe in the light, and be cautious." Zeus adviced him and the others.

"Well then," Ven began, making up his mind and already believing he had an idea on what Zeus was talking about, turning to his friends with determination and declared, "It's up to us! We have to get back and pray to the items and see what happens!"

Despite the worry, Mickey, Aqua, Terra, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Genie and Mushu all knew that Ven was right, as they nodded in agreement on this. They and Ven and Iago turned back to Zeus and bowed their respect to the God, saying, "Thank you, oh Mighty Zeus."

"Be careful out there, and good luck." Zeus nodded, as he returned to his original position and closed his eyes, just as he closed his eyes and the lightning struck the statue again, returning it back to normal and the braziers' fires going out, leaving the group alone in the temple.

"Alrighty!" Genie declared as he gathered everyone back onto Reddy beore he turned into a jet, firing up to send everyone out of the temple and into the sky to make their journey back home in top speed, "Radiant City, here we come!"

However, as they were halfway over the rurial town after fifteen minutes of flight, Ven and his group's eyes widened in horror as the blonde-haired teen pulled Reddy steady to a stop and Genie turned back to normal. Before them, was the town in peril, and being terrorized by a real life giant who was rampaging the area, smashing buildings along the way as many citizens ran away screaming from the sight before them. He didn't look happy. The group quickly decended to hide behind a rock cliff, unable to believe what was happening. Even at the sight of it, Mickey was quivering in fear like crazy as his worst nightmares had actually come true.

" _I thought you said human giants were all fairy-tales!_ " Iago screamed in panic to his friends.

"Apperantly not." Isa muttered with wide eyes.

"I'm gettin' a feeling that Hades knew what we were doing." Lea muttered, terrified.

"What're we gonna do!?" Donald cried out hysterically, placing his hands onto the sides of his head.

"I thought they were never real." Mickey shivered, hugging himself as memories of his childhood nightmares came haunting his mind, closing his eyes as he tried desperately to rid the images that were threatening to eat him inside out.

Genie, seeing as he was the magical being of the group, held a determined look as he declared to his friends, "You guys go on without me! I'll handle that be brute!"

"What!?" Ven and everyone else cried out in shock.

"Genie, you can't!" Aqua pleaded, worriedly.

"Not to worry. Semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers can handle this situation!" Genie ensured her before taking flight and towards where the giant was. Since he could either shrink or enlarge himself, he believed that he could fight off the giant and give his friends a chance to head back to Radiant City as fast as possible.

"Genie, NO!" Ven cried out.

But Genie couldn't hear him, as the magical being made to the field where the giant was rampaging, roaring before Genie enlarged himself to be the same height as the giant that Hades had sent. "STOP!" Genie held out a hand to the Giant who stopped and blinked, gazing at the blue giant that appeared before him.

"We have to go. It's our only chance!" Terra declared, already grabbing Aqua by the arms to pull her back onto Reddy, as Lea and Isa were both doing the same to Ven, and Donald and Goofy had to snap Mickey out of his terrified trance. Mushu and Iago both already climbed on, and clinged onto each other, quivering in fear and praying that nothing goes wrong here.

Despite struggling to free himself to try and do something to save Genie, Ven shut his eyes as he forced himself to realise that Terra was right. They would have to leave Genie behind in order to get back home and fast and avoid the Giant's wrath. So with this in mind yet his heart squeezing in sorrow and guilt, Ven nodded and told Reddy to take flight. The red Carpet, while feeling sorrowed as well, flew off with it's passengers and as much out of sight from the battle of Genie and the Giant who both began to fight with a hand wrestle, both trying to over-power each other, one determined to protect his friends and save the world, the other determined to kill the students who would stop Chernabog and Hades once and for all.

Unfortunately, the Giant sense this and despite still struggling to defeat Genie, to the latter's horror, the Giant managed to successfully push him back to turn into the others' direction and blew a huge gust of wind which, as Donald noticed and screamed out, "INCOMING!" it was too late.

The group screamed as they were blown by the gust of winds which also knocked Reddy unconscious and while Ven and the others managed to hang on, they were now descending in high speed towards the ground below, no matter how many times Ven cried out to their carpet friend, "Reddy! REDDY!"

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!" Mushu and Iago screamed as they continued to cling onto each other.

"Hang on, Ven! I'm coming!" Genie cried out as he made to get up and save his friends, only for the Giant to push him back down onto the ground with a crash, only able to try and stop the giant from getting the others.

Ven, Mickey, Aqua, Terra, Lea, Isa, Donald, Goofy, Mushu and Iago could only brace themselves as they tried repeatedly to get Reddy to wake up, with Mushu and Iago screaming even louder, " _AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!_ "

To the group's horror, they were all about to land right into a large lake which if they crashed, they would have no chance of escaping the Giant who would catch them and most likely have them for dinner. The group tried to pull Reddy in order to miss the lake while bracing themselves as Mickey cried out in despair, "It's no use!"

"Pull up! PULL UP!" Lea screamed out hysterically.

While they did manage to actually miss the lake, they couldn't stop the crash landing. Ironically enough, the group actually collasped into the ground and into a very steep underground tunnel below, tumbling painfully as they went, screaming away the further down they went, deeper and deeper as they go. They eventually came a stop in an underground cavern, collasping onto the ground and scattered all over the large area, and losing consciousness after they finally came to a stop. Outside, the Giant had successfully knocked Genie out, before making his way towards the hole where Ven and his friends had fallen into, grinning evilly as he prepared to dig them out and capture them to ensure Hades' victory.

* * *

Back in Radiant City, the sky was growing more darker and darker the more the fight here went on. Sephiroth's army still fought against Chernabog's army, but it was coming down to the point where only Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis were fighting the never ending army of the undead. Evacuation aircrafts were still taking people out of the city, even as some of the students and teachers helped with the evacuation while Claire made to join in the fight against the monsters.

Yen Sid still blasted at Chernabog, but it was coming down to the point where it was beginning to become a losing battle against the evil Demon King.

"I think that's everyone!" Zack reported, wiping sweat from his forehead, as he and Cloud helped load the last of the citizens of Radient City.

"Except us." Cloud pointed out, panting a little.

"Lets go!" Tseng ordered once the Evacuation Officer confirmed that all of the citziens had been deported into the aircrafts.

The others nodded. However, before they could, there was a loud explosion that made everyone nearly lose their balance and when they turned to look, to their horror, as buildings were smashed away, Claire, Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis, finally having been defeated, were knocked back and collasped onto the ground halfway from where Tseng and the others were. To make things worse, the ghouls and ghosts came marching through slowly towards them, and before the group could make an attempt to climb into the aircraft, Pain and Panic, having caught them off guard, surrounded the group after turning into giant snakes to keep them trapped and even captured the remaining Aircraft's pilot and the last of the citizens were left in horror and trapped.

"L-Let go!" Reno grunted as he and his friends tried and failed to break free.

Yen Sid saw this and was about to turn his attention on focusing on his magic to seal away Chernabog once more, even though he knew it would cost him his life this time, the powerful Sorcerer was caught off-guard himself as Chernabog loomed over him and grasped him with his giant clawed hand, squeezing him tightly as the Sorcerer couldn't even pull his arms free. He grunted as he felt his bones and ribs being crushed.

"Sidney, I'm home!" Hades called out to Yen Sid from above, as he hovered in his chariot over the captured and defeated Sorcerer, pleased that he has won this battle and would know take over the entire world in his revenge to tackle Mount Olympus next.

Yen Sid's eyes narrowed in anger at the god before him. Now he knew why so many things had happened; Hades wanted to take over the world. "Hades! You are the one behind this!?" The Sorcerer yelled angrily.

"You're correct, sir!" Hades mocked a salute evilly.

* * *

 _Back in Greece..._

Ven and his group weren't unconscious for long. After only about 30 seconds, they slowly and painfully pushed themselves up, groaning and each holding their heads, but thankfully still alive. They didn't know where they were, but one thing was for certain, they were stuck underground and dazed.

"Ow..." Lea winched, holding his left shoulder as he hit it hard when he landed on the ground. He could tell that he'll be having a deep bruise for a while.

"Ouch." Mickey winced as he held a hand to his forhead, feeling a splitting headache coming along.

"Is everyone alright?" Terra asked, as he helped Aqua who nodded to confirm that she was okay, as she said in slight amazement, "We're-we're alive."

Ven shook his head as he and his friends all stood up, even Reddy had regained consciousness, before he sighed as he looked around, saying, "We're alive, but...I have no idea where we are or how to get back out."

Suddenly the entire cave shook, causing everyone to become alarmed before they glanced to the hole where they came from, and their eyes widened as they saw rocks sliding down, and with each quick vibration, it didn't take Ven and his friends long to realise that the Giant not only defeated Genie, but also knew where they had landed and was now trying to dig them out. Trapped in a cavern that could only fit twenty people, Ven, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Reddy, Mushu and Iago all stepped back slowly in fear until their backs touched the wall, but they still leaned far back as possible to avoid the giant getting them. But deep down they knew, they couldn't escape. They wouldn't be able to get back home to Radiant City. They'd been able to solve the puzzle to stop Chernabog and Hades on time.

For the first time in their lives, they were absolutely terrified. So the only thing they could do was brace themselves for the end. Mickey and Ven clinged onto each other, as did Terra and Aqua, Donald and Goofy, Lea and Isa, and finally, Mushu and Iago, as Mickey whimpered in fear, "We're giant food."

The giant was still digging his way through, while wondering how far deep his victums had gone into and was starting to get very frustrated as this seemed to go one forever.

In the cave, Lea muttered to Isa, "I couldn't ask for a better best friend." knowing that this was the end. He wished he could've seen Reno for the last time, though. It upset him knowing that he would never see his cousin again.

"Same here." Isa replied.

"This is it!" Donald wailed.

"We're done for!" Goofy wailed, as he and Donald sobbed with tears raining from their eyes.

Terra held the terrified Aqua close in his arms, as he whispered to her, "I love you."

"I love you too." Aqua replied, burying her face into her lover's shoulder.

"I've got somethin' to tell ya, Mushu." Iago whimpered, deciding that now's the time to tell the dragon he was currently hugging for dear life what he should've told him a long time ago ever since they met.

Mushu glanced at him, whimpering, "What's that?"

Iago took a deep breath before admitting, "I ate your bowl of ice cream last week!"

Rather than being offended, Mushu decided that now's the time to reveal something he should've as well to Iago, admitting in despair, "That's okay! I ate your french toast in the Cafeteria two weeks ago!"

"You WHAT!?" Iago yelled, angered when he heard this. How could Mushu do this to him!? No wonder he found his french toast missing two weeks ago when he turned his head to talk to Zell.

Ven shut his eyes as he held Mickey tighter, and he could hear his friend softly cry in his arms, and the blonde-haired teen couldn't help but feel tempted to join him. "I guess there was no way for us to do this..." He muttered, knowing that they failed in saving the world. Failed to stop Hades. Failed to stop Chernabog. It wasn't fair. Now it seemed like finding the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident, and the Glowing Stone was just a waste of time and their and everyone else's doom had already been sealed.

The digging was getting louder, meaning that the Giant was getting closer and closer, and the group formed together before crouching to the ground in a group embrace, shutting their eyes tightly as they braced themselves. Finally, Mickey couldn't hold in his fear anymore, causing him to scream out, "SOMEBODY HELP US!"

Everyone screamed as the cavern's ceiling broke and while the falling rocks missed them, the Giant found them as he grinned evilly at the terrified group before reaching out towards them, deciding to take out two at the time. He grasped both Ven and Mickey first, much to their and everyone else's horror as the former two screamed while trying to break free.

"VEN! MICKEY!" Aqua, Terra, Lea, Isa, Donald, Goofy and Mushu screamed out in dismay and sorrow as their two friends were about to get eaten first.

"AWK! I can't look!" Iago screamed, covering his eyes with one wing.

The giant then decided to eat Mickey first and grasped him with his other hand, pulling him away from the devastated Ven who tried to reach out to him but it was no use. Mickey, his heart pounding as his nightmares had finally come true, tried to squirm himself free as the giant drew him closer and closer towards the mouth, about to gobble him up until the teenaged mouse came a desperate decision and bit onto the giant's thumb with his teeth. The giant screamed out in pain which caused him to drop Mickey who screamed as he fell. But the giant quickly recovered and recaptured Mickey in the same hand that his thumb was bitten, this time trapping him in his palm and fingers.

Ven, unable to stand the thought of seeing his friends die because of what was happening, then had an idea and as the Giant decided to get to him, managed to grab onto a burning blank of wood as he passed it before tossing it the giant's face, and surprisingly it hit him squarely in the eyes. The burning fire got right into both eye balls, causing the giant to scream in agony and dropping his two victums who both screamed as they fell. Fortunately, Reddy managed to recover enough to fly up and caught it's two friends who landed safely.

"Yeah! Way to go!" Lea cheered once he and the others saw what just happened.

With the giant still blinded, Mickey shivered as he was nearly hypervilating at the traumatizing experience and unable to believe just how close he was in actually being eaten. But as he opened his eyes while Ven noticed rope, Mickey glanced at his friend, and then idea the two had the exact same idea. The fear quickly being replaced by sudden determination, the two nodded before commanding Reddy to get the rope which was more than one but long enough to tie up the legs and arms.

As the Giant was edging towards a cliff and away from their friends, first Mickey told Ven, "Hold this!" handing his friend one end of his rope.

When Ven did so and held on tightly, Mickey then bravely swung down and swung around and around the giant's arms just as he lowered them, but his eyes still burned, while Mickey successfully and surprisingly pinned the arms together while doing the jungle hollar as he did so before Ven and Reddy caught him again before Ven then tied the rope around and around the giant's ankles, making the most hardest knot in history.

Once Ven was finished, he, Mickey and Reddy took off out of the way while the giant, now rendered immobile, stumbled as his legs were tied up, before losing his balance and tumbled down towards the cliff before falling down to the 1,000 feet up cliff and to his death, landing on the hard spikes of rocks and while Ven and Mickey had to look away, they knew that the giant had been impaled. None the less, it was now silent and the two friends glanced at each other, shell-shocked on the fact that they had just defeated a giant after such a close call in being eaten alive.

After a few moments, Mickey said, "Gosh, Ven. Thanks for savin' me."

"I couldn't let anything happen to you or the others, Mickey." Ven replied a small smile. "You're one of my best friends."

This made the two hug even as Mickey unconsciously produced tears. This was almost too much to absorb. Not only had he come face to face with his nightmares, he, with the help of Ven saving his life, conjoured it in his desperate attempt to escape. The two of them had managed to stop the giant and save themselves as well as their friends and Greece for now. The two and Reddy then flew back into the hole where their friends were and picked them up before all of them flew back out and towards where Genie, who shrunk back to normal size, was laying, still unconscious.

The group then got off Reddy and hurried to their friend, while Iago wiped sweat from his forehead, whispering to Mushu, "That was close, pal."

"You said it." Mushu replied, hugging his friend.

The two then realised that they had company and, not wanting to get caught in the fact that he actually cared for the dragon, Iago corrected himself in annoyance, "Uh, I meant, that was close, you squalid, fiery-headed dragon!"

"Oh, why you!" Mushu grunted, getting into a bickering fight with the parrot over this.

In the meantime, Ven and the others managed to get Genie to wake up, and while the latter was very relieved that his friends were alright and there was no sign of the giant anywhere, he asked dizzily, "How much longer will this take? Hades is not easily defeated." collasping back onto the ground, this time on his front.

"Yeah, he's okay." Lea shrugged to the others, knowing that Genie, while having some bruises, would be just fine after a little while's rest, before admitting to Ven and Mickey, "But man, guys. For a while there, I thought you were both gonna get eaten. Ya' scared me a lot there."

"I think we all got scared for a while there." Mickey admitted. "I never thought something like that would actually really happen."

"But if Chernabog was able to do this, then...I don't think this is a fight we'll be able to get out alive of." Aqua muttered, thinking about everything that's been happening ever since last year.

Ven knew where Aqua was coming from, but then again, more than anything, he wanted to do something, anything, to save everyone and the entire world. He wasn't sure why, but Ven was more than willing to give up his life just to save everyone, especially those he loved and cared so deeply about. Deep in his heart, he wanted to stop Chernabog and Hades. He wanted everyone to be safe. He didn't want the world to be destroyed. For a moment, he closed his eyes, and actually prayed that the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident, and the Glowing Stone would actually work, so that they can stop Chernabog and Hades, and he'd do anything to make it happen, even die for the world.

Then, as though his prayers and wishes were answered, Ven suddenly felt like he was mentally as well as literally drawn into somewhere, and while he wasn't sure why he suddenly felt like he was drawn back something, when he opened his eyes, he blinked in confusion as he found himself no longer in Greece, and his friends were nowhere to be found. Instead, the teenaged boy found himself in an unusual and bizzure place.

It looked like a dark foggy realm all around him, while Ven himself stood on what appeared to be a glass platform. Where was he? What just happened?

" _ **You wish to save the world and those you love?**_ " A voiceless voice spoke, and for some reason, Ven could easily see the words that appeared before him rather than hearing someone speak to him.

Despite not understanding what was going on, Ven nodded hesitatedly, "Y-yes. I want to save everyone, including my friends. More than anything."

" _ **You have proven yourself worthy. You were willing to save a friend without the concern of your own safety. The prayers have chosen you, young one.**_ " The voice continued.

Just then, everything around Ven lit up and he had to shield his eyes to prevent himself from being blind. What he saw next left him in shock and major confusion.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the aircraft that had just landed in a nearby village outside of Radiant Garden, both Lann and Reynn were gazing worriedly at both the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone while also gazing at what was happening to their home. As far as they and those who managed to escape could see...Chernabog and Hades had won and taken over the City. Now their only hope was for Ven and the others to return with answers and see if they can stop the two villians and save the world.

Just then, to the twin's confusion and shock, the three special items suddenly glowed as the duo noticed. When Lann and Reynn both turned to see what was going on, their eyes widened as the items glowed in light before suddenly...they turned into thin pillers of light before vanishing without a trace, much to their shock and dismay.

"Wha-what just happened!?" Reynn cried out, horrified.

"Dude, what the honk!?" Lann cried out, shocked beyond belief.

* * *

As the light dimmed, Ven hesitatedly opened his eyes, which widened further up as all of the sudden, the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident, and the Glowing Stone appeared before him. What just happened? How did they get here?

" _ **It has been decided. Your heart is full of pure light. YOU are the one to save the world from Chernabog. With the aid of those you love, you are chosen to be this world's savior.**_ " The voice continued.

Ven, thinking back on what Zeus had told him and his friends, realised what this meant. It wasn't Mickey who was chosen to be the hero of the world. He wasn't the one who would be risking his life to save everyone and stop Chernabog once and for all.

It was Ventus himself. But then, what would happen in this unusual event now? What can Ven do here with the three items? Where was he anyway? Would he be able to accomplish all of this? What kind of weapon would the items actually create in order to help him accomplish such a task that not even the great Sephiroth would be able to accomplish?

TO BE CONTINUED!

* * *

 **A/N: We're almost there! The next episode is the final conclusion of the battle and the conclusion of season 2! I might add an extra bonus episode and I might consider on doing season 3. Maybe not. Depends on how the final episode of this story turns out. Until then, see you as soon as possible!**


	22. Episode 22: Rise of Chernabog-P3

**Disclaimer:** _Life DEFINATELY not Normal_ is a story set in an alternate universe of Kingdom Hearts, set immediately after the first season of the previous story _Life FAR from Normal_ and also after the Epilogue of, " _The Betrayal of Light_ ", also featuring many characters from Disney and Final Fantasy that haven't made it to Kingdom Hearts games or Manga yet.

 **Author's Note: Here it is! The final episode and conclusion! I have an announcement to make for my final decision which I'm pretty sure you'll notice at the end of this episode. So, let's be prepared for the final decision!**

 **I don't own anything here.**

* * *

EP 22: Rise of Chernabog-P3.

 _Previously, on Life DEFINATELY not Normal..._

 _"Sidney, I'm home!" Hades called out to Yen Sid from above, as he hovered in his chariot over the captured and defeated Sorcerer, pleased that he has won this battle and would know take over the entire world in his revenge to tackle Mount Olympus next._

 _Yen Sid's eyes narrowed in anger at the god before him. Now he knew why so many things had happened; Hades wanted to take over the world. "Hades! You are the one behind this!?" The Sorcerer yelled angrily._

 _"You're correct, sir!" Hades mocked a salute evilly._

 _()()()()()()()()()_

 _It looked like a dark foggy realm all around him, while Ven himself stood on what appeared to be a glass platform. Where was he? What just happened?_

 _"_ _ **You wish to save the world and those you love?**_ _" A voiceless voice spoke, and for some reason, Ven could easily see the words that appeared before him rather than hearing someone speak to him._

 _Despite not understanding what was going on, Ven nodded hesitatedly, "Y-yes. I want to save everyone, including my friends. More than anything."_

 _()()()()()()()()()_

 _When Lann and Reynn both turned to see what was going on, their eyes widened as the items glowed in light before suddenly...they turned into thin pillers of light before vanishing without a trace, much to their shock and dismay._

 _"Wha-what just happened!?" Reynn cried out, horrified._

 _"Dude, what the honk!?" Lann cried out, shocked beyond belief._

 _()()()()()()()()()_

 _"_ _ **It has been decided. Your heart is full of pure light. YOU are the one to save the world from Chernabog. With the aid of those you love, you are chosen to be this world's savior.**_ _" The voice continued._

 _Ven, thinking back on what Zeus had told him and his friends, realised what this meant. It wasn't Mickey who was chosen to be the hero of the world. He wasn't the one who would be risking his life to save everyone and stop Chernabog once and for all._

 _It was Ventus himself._

* * *

Ven was stunned beyond belief when he heard this. Sure he'd do anything to try and stop Chernabog and save the world, but this was beyond what he had in mind. He had expected Terra to have been chosen despite not wanting that burden hang onto his friend's shoulders. Still...

"Me?" Ven managed after a pause. "How...how can I do this?"

" _ **Choose the strength and make your own decision for the outcome of the battle. Believe in yourself and those you cherish. The darkness will not stop you...**_ " The voice explained.

Despite this, Ven felt uncertain about the huge responsibility that was suddenly dropped onto his shoulders, and there was a little voice in his mind that told him that something was bound to go wrong, like how no one could've predicted the timing of Hades releasing Chernabog to take over the world and everything. Not only that, how can one stop him when the guy was a god? Gods are immortal, and the only possible way to stop Hades was to, in some tricky way, seal him away with Chernabog-

Ven's eyes suddenly widened in realization, as a crazy idea came into mind. It might not work, but maybe it will. He knew he had to think carefully for the upcoming battle against the nightmare of all evil to save the world and everyone in it, but this was their only chance left.

"I think...I might know what to do." Ven finally said, feeling courage and determination overtake his doubt.

As if agreeing with him, the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone glowed brightly once more, this time creating beams of light that merged together with each other as the three said items then vanished, turning into a glowing orb of light that twinkled. Right before Ven's eyes, the orb itself took shape and form, becoming the most magnificent sword he'd ever seen; The blade itself was steel yet transparent like glass, in emerald green, the hilt brown and wooden like with a silver glittering gem in the middle. The handle itself, as the newly created sword floated towards Ven, looked soft and comfortable to hold.

" _ **In your hand, take this blade, for as long you have the making, by this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall be made. Go, Ventus. With your decision for the outcome of this battle, fate rests with you.**_ " The voice declared.

Promising himself to only use this blade just this once, Ven slowly reached out and the moment he grasped the hilt of the sword, everything lit up in light once more, causing Ven to close his eyes, and even then, he got little warning as he felt his right arm tingle as though something was absorbing itself into his body. It wasn't a bad feeling, and it wasn't uncomfortable either, but it felt...strange.

* * *

"Ven? Ventus!" Aqua's voice brought Ven back to reality.

Ven blinked, before gazing at his friends, including Genie who finally managed to regain consciousness, gazing at him with concerned expressions which immediately told him that he didn't hear what else they were saying, before a thought came into mind. What he saw...was that just a day dream?

"You okay? You blanked out for a little bit." Isa spoke up, really concerned himself.

"How can you day-dream at a time like this?" Iago asked, annoyed as he placed a wing onto his head, groaning, "It's disgusting!" only to be flicked away by the annoyed Genie and Donald.

Shaking his head, Ven replied, "I...I don't think I was actually day-dreaming. I think...I know what Zeus meant on what he told us earlier." realising that what he saw made perfect sense and he only just remembered now.

 _ **"The Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone can only make the weapon needed to stop Chernabog by the prayers of one who's heart is pure and the love for many others."**_

"I prayed in my mind and in my heart..." Ven admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "To the items we found."

"You did?" Terra asked, surprised. Everyone else shared surprised glanced as well before they gazed at Ven again, as Terra continued, "Do you think we should try and do the same thing?"

"I don't think you guys have to." Ven responded, before explaining what he'd actually seen, which, while it was indeed unbelievable, especially Iago's standards. Once he was done, he then muttered, "Then again...how can I use the weapon if I don't even know how to even bring it out to stop Chernabog and Hades?"

As though the answer came to him, suddenly Ven's right hand tingled, alarming him and his friends. The moment Ven stretched out his arm to see what was going on, a spark of light glittered and immediately the very weapon he'd seen in his mind, the emerald sword appeared before him in his hand, shining in whatever light's left in the sky. Ven, Terra, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Isa, Genie, Mushu and Iago were all stunned beyond belief at the very sight of it. It hadn't been a dream at all. It's been real.

"Was that...magic?" Goofy asked, stunned with awe.

"The Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone have chosen our boy, Ventus!" Genie declared, while turning into a wizard with a long gray beard, blue pointy hat and blue plant robe with blue shoes, and glasses.

"And made one of the most coolest swords I've ever seen?" Lea added in disbelief.

"But...it's too dangerous." Aqua protested, worriedly. "How can Ven do this on his own?"

While they understood Aqua's worries, remembering the idea he thought off in his mind, Ven then stated, "Actually, I need your help, guys. I have a feeling that Chernabog and Hades would be having an army or something and even though I trust everyone at the Academy calling ShinRa for help, I think we're the only ones who can save them. When the time is right, I'll use the sword to stop Chernabog and Hades after we lower the defences."

"You mean, hah, fight?" Mickey correctly guessed.

"Well, we are talking about Chernabog and Hades here. What choice do we have?" Mushu pointed out with a shrug.

"Oh, Allah help me! I'm gonna die again in this!" Iago moaned in dismay, collasping onto his back on the ground. This was going to end in disaster, he just knew it. He wasn't ready to die again, not when he'd come used to live in the modern day world.

"I'm not sure...what if something happens to Ven?" Aqua said, concerned.

"Aqua..." Ven began, sighing, "I'm a not kid anymore. Besides, someday, Terra and I are gonna be SOLDIER ourselves, making up hard decisions and all that. I really appreciate you as one of my best friends, and looked out for me, like Terra did. It's my turn now to look out for you guys and everyone. But I do need help in this. The world is counting on us."

After a long moment of pause, and as much as they didn't like it, finally Aqua and everyone else realised that Ven was right. The world has to be saved or they were all doomed to Chernabog and Hades. So with a nod, they held firm and growing determinated expressions.

"Welp, if Hades and Chernabog want a fight, then it's a fight they're getting!" Mickey declared, "We'll show them not to mess with Radiant Academy!"

"And I'll provide weapons for you guys too!" Genie added, before adding sheepishly as he gazed at both Mushu and Iago, "Except for Mushu since he can breathe fire, and definately not Iago since, well, I'm not so sure about him."

Iago, finally concelding defeat, rolled his eyes and held out a wing/hand while grumbling, "Just give me a club or something I can use to whack one of the bad guys. Used one before at Al' and Jas' wedding in Agrabah."

"If Hades had layed a finger on my cousin, he's gonna wish he wasn't even born!" Lea grunted, thinking about Reno. "It's too bad the guy's immortal."

"Genie, we're ready!" Mickey concluded.

Genie nodded, and with a zap from his hands, almost everyone else were provided weapons of their own, even Aqua; Mickey had a sword that it's shiny blade was almost white, with a blue and golden hilt and on the middle was a circle with a black symbol that was shaped like his head, Goofy had a round knight's shield a picture of his head in the middle, Donald had a club that was shaped like a wizard's staff, Terra had a sword that looked similiar to Angeal's Buster sword, only not as big and it was coloured in Tidus-blue, Aqua had an elegant sword that it's hilt was shaped like waves of the ocean, Isa had a large claymore that suited him, Lea had knived frisbees that were coloured red and black that made him grin, and Iago was handed with a gold and red looking club that he actually liked.

"These are for this battle use only." Genie warned while shaking a finger.

"Pity that I can only use shurikens as a Turk someday, 'cuz these things are so cool!" Lea admitted as he twirled his temporarely weapons expertly in his hands.

"Ven...are you sure you want to do this?" Terra asked, while shouldering his new temporarely sword.

The blonde-haired teen nodded with determination, concluding, "I want everyone to be safe and make Chernabog and Hades disappear. So yeah, I'm more than willing to do this!"

Seeing how serious Ven was, everyone knew that he made his decision final. So, with Reddy readying it's passengers, Ven, Mickey, Terra, Mushu, Lea, Isa, Aqua, Donald, and Goofy climbed on and took flight at Ven's command, "To Radiant City, Reddy! Let's go!" with Genie and Iago taking flight with them towards home and towards the final battle that would decide the fate of the world and Radiant City.

* * *

It seemed hopeless right now. The only building that wasn't severally damaged was Radiant Academy or the buildings surrounding it. Chernabog, ensuring his victory, was now trapping Yen Sid in a mixture of fire and ice so that the Sorcerer could see what it was like to be trapped underneath rock for centuries. Cloud, Zack, Reno, Rude, Tseng, Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, and the last remaining citizens that never managed to evacuate were all chained up with their hands behind their backs, strapped to black shackles along with Vanitas and Xehanort to ensure that no one would escape. Pete was relaxing in a chair, pleased that he wouldn't have to worry about following orders from Radiant Academy anymore, while Pain and Panic were roughly escorting their prisoners out of the city and towards what they assumed was the Underworld just outside of the City.

Even Pluto was chained up, having a collor chained with a little ten year old boy who looked terrified.

Those who had managed to escape could only seek refuge in neighboring towns, not knowing what was happening and those who were missing families could only pray that their loved ones were alright. Melody, Aerith and Tifa wanted to go back, but were told not to.

Pain was wearing Reno's goggles while Panic was wearing Rude's sunglasses, much the two student's dismay.

"Hup, two, three, four, come on, everybody!" Pain scouted, before yelling at Reno and his friend, right into the redhead's ear, "I can't HEAR YOU!"

"Ow!" Reno grunted painfully at the loud noise that made his eardrums hurt.

Yen Sid in the meantime, almost completely buried in his own prison, glared up at Hades, promising angrily, "I swear to you, Hades, you will regret this-" before he was cut off as his head was now buried under the mound, and Chernabog grinned evilly in victory.

"Chernabog and I are the ones giving orders now, grandpa." Hades smirked evilly as he used dark magic to materialize a throne behind him which he took a seat. He then materialized a glass of wine with a green worm in it( **A/N: Ew!** ), adding to himself, relaxing, "And I think I'm gonna like it here." slurping the worm in his victory.

Which was cut short.

"Don't get too comfortable, Hades!" Ven's voice shouted from above.

In shock and disbelief at a teenage boy's voice saying this, Hades nearly choked and immediately spat out the worm of his drink before turning his head furiously and to his great shock and horror and anger, was Ventus himself along with his friends who went with him to Greece, and now had come back, with new weapons of their own! But how was it possible!? He was certain that the giant he'd sent had eaten them! How could those brats, animals and the genie survive and come back alive!?

"And don't even think that you've won this battle yet, Chernabog!" Mickey added bravely, glaring at the giant demon who was exactly from his nightmares, and whom was now shocked beyond belief himself.

"Ven! Guys!" Cloud called out once he and everyone else who were chained with him saw that Ven and the others came back after all.

"You came back!" Zack cheered.

"Genie!" Ven quickly called to their magical friend.

"Those chains do not suit the good guys!" Genie declared, using his magic to zap at the nearest chain between a thirty year old man and a twenty year old woman, breaking it instantly.

To Hades's horror, the chains vanished instantly, freeing everyone who were stunned. Seeing their freedom, Reno and Rude both immediately punched Pain and Panic, retrieving Reno's goggles and Rude's sunglasses, while Sephiroth, Angeal, Tseng and Genesis quickly punched the ghouls and ghosts to retrieve their weapons before Angeal and Genesis both handed their broadswords to Cloud and Zack who caught them skillfully.

"Guys! The sorcerer's trapped in the mound!" Cloud called out to Ven and the others who noticed and nodded, though they were shocked that it was the same man who warned Mickey on New Year's Eve and who had told them about Maleficent. None of them could believe that the Sorcerer was this guy all this time. No wonder he was good at disappearing.

Hades, furious and losing his cool, made his throne disappear and turned to Chernabog and the undead army, shouting an furious order, "GET THEM!"

Chernabog stomped towards Ven's group before commanding the ghoul with Lava to attack. Fortunately for the group, at Reno's warning, they managed to fly out of the way while narrowly escaping the molten lava, passing Hades. Unfortunately for Hades, the lava quickly covered him and soaking him.

"Whoa, hey!" Hades cried out before he was covered. Due to being immortal, it felt more like hot slimy mud. He then shouted while pointing at Ven's group, annoyed that he got hit, "No! Get them! Not me!"

Getting annoyed himself, Chernabog this time commanded a Ghoul with freezing abilites to freeze the group, but Mushu used flames to melt the ice while Genie provided a shield to cover them as they and the others also avoided this as well, once again passing Hades who managed to get the lava off him, pointing at the group, instructing, "Follow the fingers! Them!"

Only to end up covered in the blizzard, frozen in ice in the pointing position with a shocked and annoyed expression, turning into a God-cicle. "The brats, with the rug." He shuddered through the ice, referring to the group and Reddy the Red Carpet.

"Serves you right, pal!" Iago shouted at the frozen god.

"Okay, now!" Ven told his friends, knowing that this was his signal. The others nodded.

"I'll save the Sorcerer!" Mickey voulenteered.

Soon the group split up, and while Lea, Isa and Terra jumped to join Cloud, Zack, Reno, Rude, Tseng, Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis and the soldiers who once again fought against the ghouls and other undead army, Donald, Goofy and Aqua leaped to help keep the remaining citizens save while blocking off the ghouls and ghosts who attempted to get to them, Mickey leaped off Reddy and onto the building where Yen Sid was trapped inside the mound, Genie went to handle lots and lots of the army himself, and Ven, still on Reddy, glared at Chernabog who glared at him in return.

"It's you and me on now, Chernabog!" Ven declared boldly, he and Reddy quickly avoiding the giant demon king's grasps while flying around him and leading him away from the battle and from Mickey and Yen Sid.

Mickey in the meantime, while careful where to free the Sorcerer, used his sword as a club and whacked the mound, causing it to shatter and Yen Sid was immediately freed, but the old man fell to his knees in exhaustion and the young teenaged mouse quickly held him by the chest to prevent the old man from landing face first. Hades, seeing this, screamed in horror that in anger, he shattered the ice and freeing himself.

"Are you alright, sir?" Mickey asked, worriedly. Yen Sid looked weak, and he couldn't help but fear for the worst.

"I am fine." Yen Sid nodded, a little weakly. "Thank you, young one."

In the meantime, Pluto, who was also freed, began chasing after Pain and Panic who were running away in terror, with the former devil trying to plead and coo innocently, "Nice, doggy!"

The dog successfully caught up to them and pinned them by their tails with his hind legs, and as Pluto growled angrily at the two villians, Pain continued scaredly, "It's was nothing personal! I was really going to give you dog biscuits!"

Pluto was having none of it, as he then used his front paws to punch Pain and Panic repeatedly and was enjoying himself, using them as punching bags that hit both his paws and the ground hard repeatedly, crying out in pain.

An all-out war was on.

Genie paracuted down while holding a laser gun, dressed up as Rambo and shouted at the rather worried twenty ghouls and ghosts and such, "Prepare to rock and roll, dudes!" firing repeatedly and successfully sending them into oblivion as the lasers actually sliced them in half before they disappeared.

Lea tossed his new weapons five of the undead soldiers like he and Cissnei would with their shurikens like frisbees, as they flew and sliced off unaware ghouls and such into oblivion before catching his weapons when they returned to him, grasping them by the handles in the middle. He then spun around and slashed and cleaved at other undead soldiers that attempted to catch them off-guard but had managed to block them off and send them into oblivion as well.

Isa, Reno and Rude all did the similiar thing of slash, punching, whacking and cleaving the enemies on their own, and it also helped when they were doing kicks as well thanks to martial arts classes while Isa thrusted his Claymore with a rather impressive mighty swing which was a surprise even to him.

Tseng shot several of the undead soldiers with his pistol while also preforming martial arts skills of his own due to being second in command of the Turks.

Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal, Balto, Cloud, Zack and Terra, being swordsmen, slashed through the enemies before them, before Cloud flipped forward and cleaved six of the ghouls single handedly, while Terra thrusted his sword down hard to send a very large cow-like Ghoul into oblivion. Sephiroth, well, he sliced through thirty Ghouls with ease. Zack, Angeal and Genesis teamed up and the three of them leaped into the air before slicing a mammoth-sized ghoul into three pieces.

"Take that, and that, and that, and that!" Iago grunted repeatedly as he surprisingly whacked a single ghoul with his club hard on the head as though he was having a temper tantrum.

Mushu caught one ghost by surprise and breathed a surprisingly large flame thrower that actually melted the ghost into gooey oblivion. He couldn't help but break the fourth wall as he shrugged to the readers/viewers, "Didn't think ghosts could melt by fire too."

Donald whacked a ghoul that was about to attack two children, knocking it down while he repeatedly and rather mindlessly whacked away they were starting to get scared. Goofy cried out in alarm before holding his shield up in fear while protecting himself and a young couple from a ghoul that made to punch him, only to hit the shield and the ghoul cried out in pain. Goofy, seeing this, then smacked the ghoul on the head, rendering it to see stars before collasping to the ground, unconscious.

"Oops!" Goofy flinched, stupidly apologising it sheepishly, "Sorry."

Aqua, who had a few lessons of combat herself here and there, actually slashed and whacked at the ghouls and ghosts that came at her and five other people and was doing a rather impressive job at it. She successfully sent the enemies into oblivion and even twirled around to preform a mini-twirl-slash at two of the enemies. Being really good at it, maybe she should consider training to become a Turk herself despite her kind and caring nature.

Mickey, seeing the battle, was torn on to join his friends to help them or say to protect the Sorcerer in case some else bad happens to him. However, twelve ghouls then appeared in front of the two who tensed, shocked. Mickey, seeing little choice, held a tight grip on his sword and thanking his lucky stars for having defense lessons from Ven and Lea, blocked the ghouls swords before slashing and clashing against them himself. Being a good gymist as well, Mickey flipped over them and slashed and swiped at the ghouls before jumping out of the way to avoid their own weapons.

As a couple of Ghouls made to go to Yen Sid, though, the Sorcerer, despite being exhausted, held out his hands and glared at them warningly, causing the two Ghouls to pause and their yellow eyes widened, both of them muttering a worried, " **Uh-oh.** " before they were blasted by the power of magic and sent into oblivion.

Ven, still distracting the new growing frustrated Chernabog, nearly lost his balance on Reddy before he came to a hard decision that he had to fight the giant demon eventually if he was to seal him and Hades away for good. The teen then shut his eyes and prayed to lady luck, before tossing the Emerald Sword at Chernabog's head once he and Reddy dodged the monster's grasp. To his surprise, the sword twirled like a boomarang and hit Chernabog squarely in the eyes before it returned to him as he quickly grabbed it by the hilt again. Chernabog in the meantime, held his eyes with both hands in agony as he roared in pain.

Even Vanitas, who had enough of being stuck in the loop, punched one ghostly soldier while knocking it out and grabbed hold of it's sword befre rushing to join the battle, slashing, bashing, cleaving and slicing each enemy as he went in his desire to not only help Ven and the others win this fight, but also protect the children he'd come to love, and even knocked Pete unconscious when the treachous student made to run away, only to collaspe on the ground and stars circle around his head.

Xehanort stood by some of the other citizens with a stunned expression, before gazing up at Ven who was still fighting against Chernabog. Who would've thought that young man could actually be that brave and caring. So, the headmaster of Radiant Academy could only whisper, "Be careful, Ventus. And good luck."

When the Ghouls and Ghost army saw that an ordinary teenaged boy could actually dod what he did to Chernabog, they began to greatly worry and even began to back off from their opponents, while some of the undead army began to run away, fearing that the same thing could happen to them.

"Guys, get your demon-rears in gear and kick some radiant mortal butt!" Hades shouted at Chernabog and the Undead Army, far from pleased from the fact that he was actually losing this battle, all because of one group of teenaged students of Radiant Academy. He didn't notice however, as Iago, seeing that the god's hair actually being fire, cheekily blew out the blue hair-fire before flying off before he was seen.

Hades, feeling that his head was cold, ran his hand through his scalp and asked, looking around to see what happened, "Hey, who blew my hair out?"

"AHH, HA HA HA!" Iago laughed hysterically when he saw the results of his actions at Hades. It was the funniest thing he'd ever seen on a bad guy.

While Hades was busy re-enlighting his hair, he sensed movement behind him and spun around to see Genie who turned into a big fat big taller than him, like a country boy or rather, a hillbilly, saying to the god, "How 'bout a packet of Nutty Buddies?" before pushing him away with his stomach, causing Hades to cry out before landing in front of Chernabog who was still in agony while Ven now slashed and sliced through the distracted Demon King's body while careful in avoiding the blind swipes of the monster's hands.

However, Hades, in anger, thrusted out a hand and fired a powerful fire-blast at Ven and Reddy who both reacted in narrowly avoiding the attack but began to fall to the ground, much to their friends' shock and horror as they cried out Ven's name. Chernabog, starting to recover, made to grab the teen and kill him when Mickey, in horror and shutting his eyes tightly, leaped from the building and Yen Sid were standing on and carefully jumped from roof to roof before landing on the ground, yelling out to Chernabog, "Stop, Chernabog!"

This got Chernabog and Hades' attentions as they turned away just as Ven nearly crashed into the ground had not both Aqua and Terra rushing and caught him in their arms, all three of them falling onto the ground, while Mickey glared at the two villians were glared back.

"It's me you want!" Mickey continued, deciding that he'd had enough of being afraid, and more than anything, it's also to keep them distracted to protect his friends.

Chernabog, seeing the foolish teenaged mouse willing to sacrifice himself, made to approach Mickey who stepped back a little, admittedly still terrified, but knew that he couldn't run away, while Hades glared at the distraction once more, but then he and Chernabog froze when Yen Sid, seeing that now was the time to end this battle for good while he was still busy himself, called down to Ven who was standing up with the help of Terra and Aqua, "Ventus! Use the weapon to seal away Chernabog and Hades and all who follow them!"

Realising that now was the time, Ven nodded, and while he had no idea how to do so, decided to guess and held the sword skyward, yelling at Hades and Chernabog, "Okay, Chernabog and Hades! It's time for you and your army to go away forever!"

It worked, because not even a second after Ven said this, the sword glowed bright blue in light, creating a powerful vortex of gusts of wind, sucking into what appeared to be a forming orb which was sucking all of the undead army in, no matter what they did to try and prevent themselves from being swallowed up by the vortex. Though everyone else who fought on Ven's side also had to brace themselves from the gusting winds, even though it wasn't effecting them and that they would be fine. Ven, feeling on how strong this was happening, was quickly starting to feel his arms shake, and beginning to realise that maybe he wasn't strong enough to suck in Chernabog and Hades. Even Pain and Panic were sucked in, much to their horror and dismay as they screamed while they disappeared into the vortex.

However, both Terra and Aqua, seeing their friend struggle, hold onto his hands to help keep the sword skyward and when Ven looked at both of them in surprise, the two nodded, indicating that they were in this together, because they were family. Nodding in return, Ven turned his gaze back to the villians who were now struggling to keep their balance but it was becoming a losing battle to Chernabog and Hades. Chernabog though was about to grab Mickey who gasped and shut his eyes to brace himself, had not Donald and Goofy race in and grab him, moving him out of the way and left Chernabog grasping air instead.

At last, Chernabog, unable to believe that he had lost again, this time to children, lost his fight to hold on and was pulled and sucked into the vortex, shrinking smaller and smaller until he was finally in, swallowed up like water being sucked down the drain. Hades was last to go, as he tried told onto a building, not horrified that he was about to become trapped himself. He gazed pleadingly at both Ven and then at Yen Sid.

"W-Wait! Maybe-maybe we can talk about this!?" Hades pleaded in fear. Unfortunately, he lost his grip and was sucked in as well, screaming, "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

His scream echoed and faded as Hades disappeared into the vortex completely. The vortex itself, it's job done, eased down and calmed until it became a small glass orb, floating above Ven, Terra and Aqua who gazed at it, while the sword, it's job also done, disappeared completely but some of it's power absorbed themselves into Ven's hand, while the rest of us became three familiar shapes and the Golden Paiush, the Crystal Trident and the Glowing Stone rematerialized in front of them. Ven panted in half exhaustion of what just happened, before he caught the orb that slowly floated in front of him as it stopped glowing, revealing that within it, were Hades, Chernabog, and their army, having shrunk down to size and were unable to escape.

"Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty bitty living space." Ven joked, with Terra and Aqua both chuckling while Mickey, Donald and Goofy joined the trio.

"Aw, cheer up, fellas." Mickey joked at the trapped villians, "I know what it's like to have shrunk down the size. At least you have a new home."

"Way to go, Ven!" Lea cheered as he and almost everyone else joined Ven and the others with smiles and happiness and proud expressions.

Genie smiled happily as he playfully ruffed Ven's hair, "Ven, you little genius, you!"

Soon Ven and his friends who had came back to save Radiant City were congratulated and cheered upon by everyone else for their heroics that even Iago was happy and proud. Yen Sid, still on top of the building, smiled warmly as well as relief. Against all odds, Ventus had proven himself worthy and with the aid of his friends, saved the world and everyone in it from Chernabog and Hades.

Goofy then remembered something and asked, "Hey, what about Pete?" which got everyone's attentions.

They all then turned to hear the subject of the question groan as Pete regained consciousness. When he got his bearings, Pete then looked up to see the angry looks from everyone and immediately knew that he was in serious trouble for having caused the biggest trouble he caused in Radiant Academy history.

He made to stand up and then walk away while whistling innocently, only for Genie to magically tie him up and gag up, which made Pete muffle a yell as he tried to get himself out of the ropes, but was unable to do so.

"Still can't believe Pete would do something as low as join Hades." Zack sighed as he ruffled his hair.

"Only problem is, what do we do with him now?" Cloud wondered aloud.

"As much as I hate to admit it, even I do not know how to punish him." Xehanort muttered as he glared at the most trouble-making student in history.

Reno, thinking about what he said earlier, suggested with a shrug, "Ya' could always expel him for all the trouble he caused, sir."

"Now there's a thought." Lea chuckled in agreement, before gazing back at the orb and asked, "What about these guys, though?" referring to the imprisoned Chernabog, Hades and the undead army.

"I believe I will take care of that problem." Yen Sid's voice spoke up, as everyone turned around to see the Sorcerer now on ground level with them. "I know a place where the orb will be sealed away so that no one shall find them again."

"Are you sure? What if they end up being released again?" Mushu asked, worriedly.

Yen Sid shook his head, ensuring the small dragon, "Do not fear. I will make sure of it." before turning to gaze at Ven and the others who were with him in learning the truth, "You have done well, Ventus. You and your friends had braved the dangers to save us all and the entire world. The Emerald Sword's power still lies within you, and if needed, you can use that power should the world be in danger once again."

"You mean...I can still use the sword the three items used?" Ven asked, disbelief. Thinking about how the power of the sword was strong, he sighed, before stating, "I think I'll leave it for in case of a real emergancy. You know, if the world ends up having another evil bad guy on the loose, like Chernabog and Hades. I don't wanna end up like them."

"I know you won't, Ventus." Yen Sid replied, adding, "Not only your heart knows what's right, but you have your friends by your side."

Realising that this was true, Ven chuckled in relief, "Yeah. You're right."

"Mr. Sorcerer, sir." Mickey spoke up, a little uncertainly, but a bit more comfortable now that he knows that Yen Sid is really a friend. "Are we gonna see you again someday?" worried that this may be the last time he and everyone else will be seeing of him.

Yen Sid was admittedly surprise to see the sadness in the young mouse's eyes, before realising what he meant and nodded, answering, "We will meet again someday, Mickey Mouse. Until then, watch over your friends and loved ones."

Relieved while stunned by the Sorcerer's words, Mickey smiled before nodding as he promised, "That's a promise!"

* * *

After the events of the battle, Yen Sid left with the orb of trapped villians to seal it away in a place where no one would be able to reach, not even giving out the locations to Ven and the others which they all agreed was for the best. In the meantime, while Pete was expelled from Radiant Academy and moved to Galbadian Academy(much to his dismay) with the help of Genie, Radiant City was returned to it's original glory in a matter of days and those who had evacuated were allowed to return home where everyone else of Ven's friends reunited with them as Reno and Lea embraced happily for being back together again.

The three special items were then put into Museums as part of history since everyone agreed it was best to do so. News spread to ShinRa and to everyone else in town for what happened and those who fought against Chernabog, Hades and their army, including Ven and his friends, were given awarding medals for their heroic achivements.

Later that night, a huge party was held at the Academy to celebrate the victory of saving the world and even Vanitas was welcomed to join the party. In response to this, he brought Roxas, Xion and Namine with where the said three children played with their quickly bonded new friends Sora, Riku, Kairi, Yuffie, Tidus, and Yuna who happily welcomed them to their little gang of fun and friendship.

Though Ven, seeing how the night was clear and the moon was full and bright, went outside to the gardens of the Academy and sat on the lawn, gazing at the beautiful night sky, thinking about everything that has happened so far. Last year and part of this year were very adventurous and he couldn't believe that it came and went so quickly. There was, however, concern that there may be more villians out there, waiting for their turn to try and take over the world and he himself still had the power of the Emerald Sword.

"What's the matter, Ven?" Mickey spoke up as he came over and sat beside his friend, noticing the rather concerned look on his face. "Don't you like the party?"

Aware of his friend's pressence, Ven shrugged, "I do, it's just, well, the sky was clear tonight and...I'm just a little worried."

"About what?"

"About...possible more bad guys that are out there, kind of like Hades and Chernabog. If not worse." Ven sighed, "And I haven't even made it to SOLDIER yet."

Seeing the point, Mickey softly smiled and said optimistically, "Welp, even if there are, I'm sure we can handle it, like how we all managed to defeat Chernabog and Hades. Besides, we're not alone, Ven."

Realising that Mickey was right, Ven finally smiled and agreed, "You're right, Mickey." and the two friends gazed up at the sky, both at the stars and the moon.

Even though the battle against Chernabog and Hades was over and the world was saved, who knew what other adventures or situations Radiant City and the world itself may encounter, even in just the short near future. One thing was very clear, though...

Life NEVER really was Normal.

TO BE CONTINUED IN SEASON 3...

* * *

 **A/N: I know this is a lot shorter than the previous chapters, but at this stage, I was running out of ideas of how the conclusion would turn out. I will still do a bonus chapter of this story, but season 2 has come to an end. Don't worry, eventually when I get around to it as I now have ideas of many more adventures for our heroes of Radiant Academy, so thus, I've decided to eventually form season 3, titled "Life NEVER was Normal".**

 **Though that'll have to wait as I have other stories to finish as well as "Kingdom Hearts III: Second War" to begin as one of my next projects to start up.**

 **Until then, thank you so much for joining me on this journey and loving and supporting it so much for the past one and a half years and I will see you again my other stories.**

 **May Kingdom Hearts and the Lifestream guide you.**


End file.
